If you are away from home you cannot vote. You would have to change your place of residence to be able to exercise your right to vote. That is a universal rule of electoral power throughout the world. But what if your home is the International Space Station? The POT It has a system for astronauts to choose from and we’ll tell you how it works.
The system was tested in the United States Senate elections that took place in November 2022. In February there will be a process to elect governors and therefore the system will be used once again.
First, speaking of procedural and bureaucratic issues, the electoral power of the United States must allow the voter to exercise his right outside his constituency. It is a special eventuality, because the person is out of Earth orbit. It is understandable. Who else has this eventuality?
Likewise, no rule is being violated. The US regulations have a figure called absentee voting or early voting. Applicable for those who are outside the world. And in addition, according to NASA itself, the Texas Legislature passed a bill in 1997 that allows NASA astronauts to vote from space.
The system for NASA astronauts to vote
The US space agency uses a mechanism called NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN). The members of the International Space Station (ISS for its acronym in English) create a kind of mini cabin that keeps the vote secret and vote through this software.
The information goes through NASA’s Space Network, managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, after the astronaut completes their electronic ballot. The document travels through a tracking and data transmission satellite to a terrestrial antenna of the same space agency.
NASA then transfers the ballot to the Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and then to the county clerk responsible for issuing the ballot. “The ballot is encrypted and only the astronaut and the secretary can access it to preserve the integrity of the vote,” the agency said in a statement. release.
