Exceptional votes in the US elections. Even their flight into space didn’t stop them
Americans vote all over the world and beyond. It turns out that even extraterrestrial travel did not block the possibility of voting in the current US elections. Four citizens located outside our planet will also exercise their right.
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America elects its country’s 47th president. It turns out that even staying outside Earth does not prevent you from casting your vote. Four US citizens currently on the International Space Station, i.e. Don Pettit, Nick Hague, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, will have the opportunity to nominate their candidate.
How to vote from space?
Of course, especially for the latter two, the vote in space is a bit of a surprise, because according to the original plan of their mission on the Starliner ship, they were supposed to return to Earth about five months ago. However, due to doubts about the safety of the astronauts’ return from the ISS, the facility had to return without the crew, who, contrary to plans, had to stay at the station much longer.
What does the voting itself look like? Astronauts fill out the voting card electronically. Once this is complete, the document is routed via satellite to a terrestrial antenna in New Mexico. From there, it goes to the Mission Control Center at NASA Johnson and then to the county clerk responsible for casting the vote. To maintain the integrity of the vote, the ballot is encrypted and only accessible to the astronaut and the clerk – describes the portal space.com
However, getting to the card itself is not that easy. First, it is necessary to test the efficiency of the voting system itself. For this purpose, a test vote is performed. Then the card itself is encrypted and the clerk also sends the authentication data. Astronauts have until 7 p.m. Central European Time to vote on election day. They must choose one of two candidates: the current vice president, Kamala Harris, representing the Democratic Party, or the former 45th US president, representative of the Republican Party, Donald Trump.
