KPCC Election 2008
Space Voting!
You may know about absentee voting via mail, or from overseas. But how about from space? If you're voting in a Texas election, it's legal.
In 1996, American astronaut John E. Blaha wanted to vote in that year's general election from aboard the Russian space station Mir, but since he was sent into space before absentee ballot forms were made available and was going to be on the Mir space station until after the election, he wasn't allowed to vote. Russian cosmonauts had simply voiced their voting preferences to staff on Earth, but U.S. law wouldn't allow that due to privacy concerns.
In 1997, with most astronauts being stationed in the Houston area, the Texas legislature passed a bill allowing their citizens to, yes, vote from outer space. Fun fact: It was signed into law by then Texas governor George W. Bush.
An electronic ballot is generated by the county clerk's office, which is then e-mailed to the astronaut's secure e-mail account. Mission control then transmits the e-mail via satellite to the astronaut in question. The astronaut can then cast his vote and use the same secure e-mail connection to send his ballot back to the county clerk's office.
The first astronaut to exercise this right was Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao in the 2004 presidential election, during his time aboard the International Space Station.
1 Comments
How can either Obama or McCain deal with foreign issues when all they want to do now is sling mud at each other when our country is in the doorway of collapse? Will they just sling mud at other countries? Yep, that'll work boys! Now pick up your marbles and go home to reflect and regroup!
McCain cant even clean up the governmental corruption in Maricopa County in Az..
what makes him think he can clean up our country?
Take care of the corruption there 1st John!
Get A Grip On Realty Both Of You!
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