Field voting booth on the International Space Station (ISS) during the 2020 US presidential election
A pair of American astronauts are in a state of involuntary residence in space as their trip, originally planned for only 8 days, is now at least 7 months long due to problems related to the Starliner spacecraft.
For NASA, holding elections 250 miles above the Earth is nothing new. NASA held elections on the ISS 27 years ago, when Texas passed a law allowing voting from space.
Because NASA is headquartered in Houston, nearly every American astronaut is a Texas voter.
The difference this time is that neither Wilmore nor Williams were originally scheduled to be on the ISS on Election Day, November 5. The Starliner returned earlier this month without its passengers.
"I submitted a ballot request today," Mr. Wilmore shared in a phone call with reporters earlier. "As an American citizen, voting is a very important role for me, and NASA makes it easy," The Hill newspaper quoted the astronaut as saying on September 23.
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Harris County, Texas, election officials announced they have partnered with NASA to send ballots in PDF format to astronauts. The PDF is password-protected, ensuring the ballot is secret.
The first astronaut to vote in space was David Wolf, when he was aboard Russia's Mir space station in 1997.
Four other American astronauts currently on the ISS will not vote from space. Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson returns to Earth on September 23. Colleagues Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps will leave the ISS on October 6.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/mac-ket-trong-khong-gian-hai-phi-hanh-gia-my-bau-tong-thong-nhu-the-nao-185240924093820933.htm
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