Buzz
Earlier this week, NASA revealed that astronaut Kate Rubins had successfully cast her vote from a makeshift voting booth aboard the International Space Station. While we'd love to imagine her ballot rocketing back to Earth, the reality was far simpler: it was transmitted as a PDF to her county clerk.
As NASA describes, voting from space starts just like voting from abroad. Astronauts, much like military personnel and American citizens living overseas, must first file a Federal Postcard Application (FPCA) to request an absentee ballot. Once authorized, they can head off into space knowing their vote will follow.
After a dry run with staff at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the astronaut is ready for the actual vote. They’ll receive two electronic files: a password-protected ballot from the Space Center’s mission control and an email containing the password from the county clerk. The astronaut then “downlinks” (sends via satellite) the completed ballot back to the Space Center, which forwards it to the county clerk. Since the clerk is the only one with the password to open the ballot, they are the sole person who views the astronaut's selections. As NPR reports, the clerk then transcribes the votes onto a paper ballot and submits them with the others.
Although Americans have been traveling to space for over 50 years, early missions weren’t long enough to require a voting system from orbit. That changed in 1996, when John Blaha missed the general election because his mission to Russia's Mir space station started in September, before absentee ballots were sent out, and he didn’t return until January 1997. As reported by The Washington Post, NASA worked with Texas state officials to create a law allowing astronauts to vote from space. In the fall of 1997, David Wolf became the first astronaut to cast his vote from a space station. This law applies specifically to Texas, where most astronauts reside, but NASA has confirmed that the process can be applied in other states if needed.
