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Voting in space

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Two-time space voter Kathleen Rubins[1][2] posing in front of a "voting booth" on the International Space Station, 2020

Many people have cast votes during spaceflight. Voting from space has some inherent difficulties, as delivering paper ballots to and from a space station—as one would do for a soldier stationed overseas—would be cost prohibitive. Some astronauts vote electronically, while others communicate their voting intentions to a proxy.

United States

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John Blaha, an astronaut stationed aboard the Mir space station, requested permission to vote in the 1996 presidential election. A NASA plan to allow Blaha to vote electronically was stopped when the Secretary of State of Texas pointed out that the state had no provision for any electronic voting.[3] The following year, Governor George W. Bush signed a bill originally sponsored by Representative Mike Jackson, whose district included Johnson Space Center, that allowed astronauts to vote electronically. The first person to vote using this method was David Wolf, who voted in Houston's 1997 local elections while on board Mir.[4]

Since 2004, astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) have voted in all but one presidential election.[9] In order to vote while on board, astronauts must fill out the Federal Post Card Application prior to departure, the same application used by military members stationed overseas. During the election, Johnson Space Center transmits a secure electronic ballot, and the astronauts are emailed credentials by their local county clerk. The ballot is then filled out, downlinked to Earth, and e-mailed to the relevant county clerk.[10] The first American to vote for president in space was Leroy Chiao in 2004 who was onboard the ISS in 2004.[11] American astronaut Kathleen Rubins voted on the ISS on two occasions, in 2016 and 2020.[2]

While most astronauts live in, and are registered to vote in, Texas, some are registered elsewhere in the country. Andrew R. Morgan, for instance, was registered to vote in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania; that county's Department of Voter Services collaborated with NASA to allow Morgan to vote in the 2019 local elections.[12]

USSR and Russia

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Stamp commemorating the Soyuz 11 crew, who died during flight back to Earth in 1971

In 1971, the crew of the Soyuz 11 (Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev) broadcast their votes from the Salyut 1 space station in the election for the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. A contemporary report from UPI stated that their votes were the first to be cast from space.[13][14] Three cosmonauts (Sergei Krikalev, Valery Polyakov and Alexander Volkov) onboard the Mir space station voted in the 1989 Soviet parliamentary elections "without a secret ballot" with TASS reporting they announced their choice of candidates when communicating with ground control.[15]

In Russia, cosmonauts generally vote by proxy; for example, in the 2011 legislative election, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin gave their vote to Cosmonaut Training Center employee Dmitry Zhukov.[16]

During the 2020 Russian constitutional referendum, Moscow allowed for online voting. This allowed Anatoli Ivanishin, stationed on the ISS and registered to vote in Moscow, to vote electronically. Ivan Vagner, stationed alongside Ivanishin, voted by proxy.[17]

Other countries

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France

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French astronaut Thomas Pesquet voted from space in 2017.[18]

References

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  1. ^ Kramar, Miriam (1 November 2016). "This is how the lone American in space is voting in the presidential election". Mashable. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b Gerken, Marika; Alonso, Melissa; Andrew, Scottie (25 October 2020). "This American astronaut voted from space. Here's how she did it". CNN. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  3. ^ "In Space and Out of Luck". The New York Times. 25 October 1996. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  4. ^ Schwartz, Matthew S. (26 September 2020). "NASA Astronaut Will Vote From Space". NPR. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Democracy in Orbit: Chiao to Vote in Space". NASA. 21 October 2004. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Astronauts To Vote From Space". NASA. 27 October 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Astronauts to Vote in Space". NASA. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  8. ^ Wall, Mike (5 November 2012). "Extreme Voting: How Astronauts Cast Ballots from Space". Scientific American. Space.com. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  9. ^ This includes 2004,[5] 2008,[6] 2016,[7] and 2020.[7] Two Americans—Sunita Williams and Kevin A. Ford—were on board the ISS during the 2012 election, but both had submitted absentee ballots prior to their spaceflight.[8]
  10. ^ "Astronauts to Vote in Space". NASA. 9 September 2020. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  11. ^ Kramer, Miriam (November 3, 2020). "A brief history of voting from space". Axios (Digital). Retrieved May 29, 2024.
  12. ^ Addleman, Brent (5 November 2012). "Ballot from space: Astronaut Drew Morgan votes from International Space Station". New Castle News. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  13. ^ "Soviet Trio Cast Votes From Space". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Associated Press. 14 June 1971. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  14. ^ "Cosmonauts Tend Garden, Cast Votes From Space". The Miami Herald. United Press International. 14 June 1971. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  15. ^ "'Absentee' Votes Cast From Space Station". Los Angeles Times. Reuters. March 27, 1989. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
  16. ^ "Russia polls: Cosmonauts vote from space". NDTV. 4 December 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  17. ^ "Russian Cosmonaut Votes on Putin's Reforms From ISS". The Moscow Times. Agence France-Presse. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  18. ^ "Astronaut votes in the French election from International Space Station". KSBW 8 (Digital). May 6, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
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