NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, who is the only American in space, cast her vote from space which is more than 200 miles above Earth from aboard Crew-1.
As the US gears for Presidential elections scheduled for November 3, 2020, ballots for NASA astronauts working aboard the International Space Station have been prepared too.
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, who is the only American in space and will remain so on Election Day (November 3), cast her vote from space which is more than 200 miles above Earth from aboard Crew-1.
Kate Rubins, who's currently on duty aboard the International Space Station, posted a photo of herself in front of a padded booth marked "ISS Voting Booth," with the text "From the International Space Station: I voted today."
However, this is not Rubins' first time voting from space. She did so in 2016 as well, when she was also on the ISS.
How voting works in space
Like other forms of absentee voting, voting from space starts with a Federal Postcard Application or FPCA. It's the same form military members and their families fill out while serving outside of the US. By completing it ahead of its launch, space station crew members signal their intent to participate in an election from space.
Because astronauts move to Houston for their training, most opt to vote as Texas residents.
Once their FPCA is approved, the astronaut is almost ready to vote. Like many great things in space, voting starts with an experiment.
The county clerk who manages elections in the astronaut's home county sends a test ballot to a team at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Then they use a space station training computer to test whether they're able to fill it out and send it back to the county clerk.
After a successful test, a secure electronic ballot generated by the Clerk's office of Harris County and surrounding counties in Texas, is uplinked by Johnson's Mission Control Center to the voting crew member.
An e-mail with crew member-specific credentials is sent from the County Clerk to the astronaut. These credentials allow the crew member to access the secure ballot.
The astronaut then cast their vote, and the secure, completed ballot is downlinked and delivered back to the County Clerk's Office by e-mail to be officially recorded.
The clerk has their own password to ensure they are the only ones who can open the ballot. It's a quick process, and the astronaut must be sure to submit it by 7 pm local time on Election Day if voting as a Texas resident.
Voting in space has been possible since 1997 when a bill passed to legally allow voting from space in Texas. Since then, several NASA astronauts have exercised this civic duty from orbit.
Three other American astronauts were also expected to vote from space but their October 31 trip to the ISS was delayed and they can vote from Earth now.
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 "NASA astronaut votes from space")
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