Stranded Astronauts Set to Vote from Outer Space

It’s a long walk to the polling place for Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams.

The two astronauts, whose stay aboard the International Space Station was supposed to last a few days instead of several months, will be voting from space this year, continuing a practice that began in 1997.

Wilmore and Williams went to the space station in July on the Boeing Starliner. Due to concerns about the Starliner’s safety, the two are remaining in space until next year. the Starliner returned to Earth this month in an uneventful remote-control landing.

“It’s a very important duty that we have as citizens and I’m looking forward to being able to vote from space, which is pretty cool,” Williams said during a September 13 news conference from the space station, according to CNN.

“I sent down my request for a ballot today,” Wilmore said.

“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,” he added.

They may be stranded on board the International Space Station, but that isn’t going to stop NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from voting in November’s election.

Read more about the astronauts marooned aboard the ISS. https://t.co/h7LQNcwpIQ pic.twitter.com/K3LPhmuH7B

— ABC News (@ABC) September 18, 2024

The Texas Election Code allows votes from “a person who meets the eligibility requirements of a voter… but who will be on a space flight during the early-voting period and on election day.”

Astronaut David Wolf became the first American to vote from space that year.

Former astronaut Leroy Chiao, who voted from space in 2004, said NASA was a step ahead of him when he realized he had not made arrangements for an absentee ballot before liftoff.

“When I left to go launch on my mission in October, I suddenly realized I hadn’t put in for an absentee ballot and I hadn’t made any arrangements. So I quickly asked NASA, ‘Hey, can I vote from the station?’ And they said ‘Oh yeah, we have a process in place. No problem,’” Chiao said.

“And it turned into a great kind of public service announcement, for me to send down messages encouraging people to go out and vote,” he said.

After Wilmore and Williams fill out their electronic absentee ballots, the forms “will be encrypted and uploaded into the space station’s on-board computer system,” according to NASA.

Harris County elections officials said they are standing by to work with the astronauts.

“Before sending the astronauts their ballot, a test ballot with a unique password is sent first,” Rosio Torres-Segura, a spokesperson for the Harris County clerk, said.

“Crew member-specific credentials allow the astronauts access to a secure ballot. After a successful test, the secured ballot is sent as a fillable document so the astronauts can make their selections, save them, and send them back. Once the astronauts vote their live ballot, it is returned, printed, and processed with other ballots,” she said.

A 2020 report from the Air and Space Museum said that when it comes to their address, astronauts list it  as “low-Earth orbit.”

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