NASA Astronauts Cast 3 Midterm Ballots From ISS Under 1997 Texas Law

Q: How do astronauts stay informed about local ballot measures while living entirely isolated on the International Space Station?

Astronauts stay informed much the same way other overseas voters do: through digital access to election information sent from Earth. While living on the International Space Station, they still have routine communications with Mission Control and internet-based access to news, public information and ballot materials, which allows them to review candidates and local measures before voting. For the ballot itself, NASA says astronauts use the standard absentee process for Americans away from home. They submit a Federal Post Card Application, receive an electronic ballot, and complete it on a station computer. That means they can read the actual ballot language for local propositions and measures just as an absentee voter abroad would. In practice, understanding local ballot measures likely depends on a mix of county election guides, state and local voter information posted online, and any personal research they do before and during the mission. The reporting provided here does not indicate that NASA gives astronauts special briefings on local issues; rather, the system appears designed to let them access and return their ballots securely while they remain responsible for informing themselves as voters. NASA’s role is mainly technical and procedural: securely transmitting the encrypted ballot through its satellite network and mission facilities to the relevant county clerk, while preserving ballot privacy and integrity.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Nov 4

Three Americans aboard the International Space Station voted in the midterm elections, with NASA astronaut Anil Menon showing in a video how he cast his ballot from his station room.
Electronic absentee ballots were encrypted and routed by satellite to NASA’s White Sands facility in New Mexico, then to Johnson Space Center and Harris County, Texas, for filing.
NASA says only the astronaut and the county clerk can access the ballot, using the same absentee framework available to overseas voters through a federal postcard application.
Astronaut voting has been allowed since 1997, after John E. Blaha was unable to vote while in orbit during the 1996 general election.