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.