Anil Menon, Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins took part in the U.S. midterm elections without leaving the International Space Station (ISS). Hundreds of kilometers above Earth, the three American crew members completed their ballots electronically and sent them through a dedicated remote voting system.
Menon announced that he had voted in a post on X. He shared a 29-second video in which he wore an “I Voted” sticker.
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In the post, the astronaut said all three American crew members had the privilege of voting from the space station. He said they completed electronic ballots and sent them securely to election officials.
NASA explains that the process is similar to voting for Americans who are away from home. First, astronauts submit a special form to request a remote ballot; they then complete it electronically and send it to the relevant election authorities.
This option became available in 1997, after Texas passed a law allowing American astronauts to vote during missions beyond Earth. NASA astronauts are usually registered to vote in Harris County, Texas, where the Houston Space Center is located.
The first astronaut to vote this way was David Wolf. In 1997, he cast his ballot from the Russian space station Mir.
Delaney and Watkins arrived at the ISS on October 1 aboard SpaceX’s Crew-13 mission. Menon, meanwhile, has been at the station since mid-July, when he traveled there aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
The three Americans currently share the orbital laboratory with four other crew members: Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Russian cosmonauts Anna Kikina, Pyotr Dubrov and Sergey Teteryatnikov.
The case shows that, thanks to technology and special procedures, people can exercise their right to vote even in unusual circumstances, far from the place where the election is held.
