Voting in space
{{short description|Voting whilst in space}}
{{Globalize|date=October 2024}}
File:ISS-64 Kate Rubins in front of the 'voting booth'.jpg{{cite news |last1=Kramar |first1=Miriam |title=This is how the lone American in space is voting in the presidential election |url=https://mashable.com/2016/11/01/how-astronauts-vote-from-space/ |access-date=19 May 2021 |work=Mashable |date=1 November 2016}}{{cite news |last1=Gerken |first1=Marika |last2=Alonso |first2=Melissa |last3=Andrew |first3=Scottie |title=This American astronaut voted from space. Here's how she did it |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/25/us/nasa-kate-rubins-voting-space-trnd/index.html |access-date=19 May 2021 |work=CNN |date=25 October 2020}} 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
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.{{cite news |title=In Space and Out of Luck |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/25/us/in-space-and-out-of-luck.html |access-date=19 May 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=25 October 1996}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Schwartz |first1=Matthew S. |title=NASA Astronaut Will Vote From Space |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/09/26/917233532/nasa-astronaut-will-vote-from-space |access-date=19 May 2021 |work=NPR |date=26 September 2020}}
Since 2004, astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) have voted in all but one presidential election.{{refn|This includes 2004,{{cite news |title=Democracy in Orbit: Chiao to Vote in Space |url=https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/livinginspace/chiao_votes.html |access-date=19 May 2021 |publisher=NASA |date=21 October 2004}} 2008,{{cite news |title=Astronauts To Vote From Space |url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition18/vote.html |access-date=19 May 2021 |publisher=NASA |date=27 October 2008}} 2016, and 2020.{{cite news |title=Astronauts to Vote in Space |url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/astronauts-to-vote-in-space |access-date=19 May 2021 |publisher=NASA |date=29 September 2020}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Wall |first1=Mike |title=Extreme Voting: How Astronauts Cast Ballots from Space |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/extreme-voting-how-astronauts-cast-ballots/ |access-date=19 May 2021 |work=Scientific American |agency=Space.com |date=5 November 2012}}}} 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.{{cite web |title=Astronauts to Vote in Space |url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/astronauts-to-vote-in-space |publisher=NASA |date=9 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331041616/https://www.nasa.gov/feature/astronauts-to-vote-in-space/ |archive-date=31 March 2023 |access-date=6 March 2024}} The first American to vote for president in space was Leroy Chiao in 2004 who was onboard the ISS in 2004.{{Cite news |last=Kramer |first=Miriam |date=November 3, 2020 |title=A brief history of voting from space |url=https://www.axios.com/2020/11/03/history-of-voting-from-space |access-date=May 29, 2024 |work=Axios |type=Digital}} American astronaut Kathleen Rubins voted on the ISS on two occasions, in 2016 and 2020.
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.{{cite news |last1=Addleman |first1=Brent |title=Ballot from space: Astronaut Drew Morgan votes from International Space Station |url=https://www.ncnewsonline.com/news/local_news/ballot-from-space-astronaut-drew-morgan-votes-from-international-space-station/article_a69d9996-ff82-11e9-a57b-7311506943c6.html |access-date=19 May 2021 |work=New Castle News |date=5 November 2012}}
USSR and Russia
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.{{cite news |title=Soviet Trio Cast Votes From Space |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77966060/soviet-trio-cast-votes-from-space/ |access-date=19 May 2021 |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |agency=Associated Press |date=14 June 1971}}{{cite news |title=Cosmonauts Tend Garden, Cast Votes From Space |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77965999/cosmonauts-tend-garden-cast-votes-from/ |access-date=19 May 2021 |work=The Miami Herald |agency=United Press International |date=14 June 1971}} 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.{{Cite news |date=March 27, 1989 |title='Absentee' Votes Cast From Space Station |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-27-mn-454-story.html |access-date=May 29, 2024 |work=Los Angeles Times |agency=Reuters}}
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.{{cite news |title=Russia polls: Cosmonauts vote from space |url=https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/russia-polls-cosmonauts-vote-from-space-570353 |access-date=19 May 2021 |agency=NDTV |date=4 December 2011}}
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.{{cite news |title=Russian Cosmonaut Votes on Putin's Reforms From ISS |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/06/30/russian-cosmonaut-votes-on-putins-reforms-from-iss-a70742 |access-date=19 May 2021 |work=The Moscow Times |publisher=Agence France-Presse |date=30 June 2020}}
{{clear}}
Other countries
= France =
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet voted from space in 2017.{{Cite news |date=May 6, 2017 |title=Astronaut votes in the French election from International Space Station |url=https://www.ksbw.com/article/the-astronaut-voting-from-space-1494098909/9615225 |access-date=May 29, 2024 |work=KSBW 8 |type=Digital}}
References
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{{Voting rights in the United States|state=collapsed}}