How Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore Plan to Vote in US Polls From Space

Washington: NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are preparing to vote from space in the upcoming November U.S. elections.  

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore who have been stationed at the International Space Station (ISS) since June of this year participated in a live press conference from space on September 13

Wilmore stated while talking to the press, "I sent down my request for a ballot today, and they should get it to us in a couple of weeks."

He stated further, "It’s a very important role that we all play as citizens to be included in those elections, and NASA makes it very easy for us to do that. We’re excited for that opportunity." Williams echoed this, stating, "It’s a very important duty, and I’m looking forward to voting from space."

In 2020, astronaut Kate Rubins also voted from space while orbiting Earth at 17,500 miles per hour aboard the International Space Station, about 200 miles above the planet.

But how does voting from space actually work?

Astronauts cast their votes through a special electronic absentee ballot. This process began in 1997 when Texas passed Rule 81.35 in its state legislature. The law allowed astronauts, who usually live in Houston near NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC), to vote from space if they are eligible as Texas voters and will be on a spaceflight during the voting period of elections at the time. 

Before their mission, astronauts identify the elections they will be in space for.  Closer to Election Day, an encrypted electronic ballot is sent from JSC’s Mission Control to the astronaut. The astronaut then accesses the ballot using unique credentials which are send to them via email and casts their vote, and sends the completed ballot back to Earth, where it is received by the County Clerk’s office.

The first astronaut to vote from space was David Wolf, who cast his ballot from the Russian Space Station Mir in 1997. Today, the ballots are sent to the International Space Station, where astronauts typically spend around six months. The process mirrors absentee voting on Earth, with the exception that astronauts list their address as 'low-Earth orbit.'