Stranded astronauts plan to vote in the 2024 election from space


Recommended Posts

The two American astronauts stranded on the International Space Station through February said Friday they plan to vote in the November election from space.

“I sent down my request for a ballot today,” one of the astronauts, Butch Wilmore, said on a call with reporters on Friday afternoon. “It’s a very important role that we play as citizen including those elections, and NASA makes it very easy for us to do that.”

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/stranded-astronauts-vote-space-rcna171066

Nothing new, 

https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/how-do-astronauts-vote-space

 

Interestingly, this wasn't the first time Rubins voted from space: she cast her ballot from space in the 2016 presidential election while on the ISS as a member of Expedition 48/49.

But how does voting from space work? Thanks to a special electronic absentee ballot, astronauts are able to vote from space.

This voting process began in 1997—necessitated by the beginning of long-duration spaceflight for American astronauts--when Rule 81.35 passed in the Texas state legislature. This law states that “A person who meets the eligibility requirements of a voter under the Texas Election Code, Chapter 101, but who will be on a space flight during the early-voting period and on Election Day, may vote.” (Why Texas? That’s where NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) is located, so most astronauts live in Houston.)"

  • Like 1
  • Facepalm 1
On 19/09/2024 at 13:13, Skyfrog said:

Voting from space? Republicans screaming election fraud in 3...2...

well there was exactly 16,521 votes from the space station..... 🤣

  • Haha 3
On 20/09/2024 at 07:53, Som said:

Waiting for the news story were maga nuts try to shoot the space station with their ar15s 

Dumb take, and not what the conservatives are upset about...  In other news, the USA is the only western country to not require voter ID to cast a vote.  I wonder why...

On 20/09/2024 at 12:31, Astra.Xtreme said:

Dumb take, and not what the conservatives are upset about...  In other news, the USA is the only western country to not require voter ID to cast a vote.  I wonder why...

If you are saying no ID required by the federal government true.  It is required in my state (NE) and if you cannot afford one you can get an ID just for voting and it's free.  Source

Additional Info about voter ID requirements - Link

 

On 20/09/2024 at 13:31, Astra.Xtreme said:

Dumb take, and not what the conservatives are upset about...  In other news, the USA is the only western country to not require voter ID to cast a vote.  I wonder why...

The USA is also the only nation in the world that it's more dangerous to go to school than walk across the street.

On 20/09/2024 at 16:11, Matthew S. said:

The USA is also the only nation in the world that it's more dangerous to go to school than walk across the street.

That's not really true, but I get the point you're trying to make.  If I turn on my local news, just about every day somebody crossing the street has been hit by a car running a red light.  Granted those same neighborhoods have people shooting each other every night too.  School shootings are a rare occurrence and I'm pretty sure the statistics show those have decreased over the years.  The USA has a bigger cultural mix than anybody else on the planet, and that's why the violence is so high in the cities.

On 26/09/2024 at 06:44, Astra.Xtreme said:

That's not really true, but I get the point you're trying to make.  If I turn on my local news, just about every day somebody crossing the street has been hit by a car running a red light.  Granted those same neighborhoods have people shooting each other every night too.  School shootings are a rare occurrence and I'm pretty sure the statistics show those have decreased over the years.  The USA has a bigger cultural mix than anybody else on the planet, and that's why the violence is so high in the cities.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1462731/number-of-school-shootings-us/

This year so far looks like an outlier but the trend is not as you think. 

On 20/09/2024 at 13:31, Astra.Xtreme said:

In other news, the USA is the only western country to not require voter ID to cast a vote.  I wonder why...


When I go to my polling place to vote in North Carolina... they ask my name and address... and they check my name off my county's voter roll.  Then they print me a ballot and I go fill it out. 

But if I was an illegal or undocumented person... I would be stopped at step one.  So I don't even know how an illegal or undocumented person could vote.  And considering the penalties for voter fraud... I'd imagine an illegal or undocumented person trying to vote would be the last thing they'd try to do.

A quick Google search found this:

"The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 explicitly prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections. It is not legal in any state for a noncitizen to cast a ballot in a federal election."

I often hear Republicans say "millions of illegal aliens are voting!"   But it doesn't appear to be happening at the scale they think it is.

On 26/09/2024 at 11:46, Michael Scrip said:


When I go to my polling place to vote in North Carolina... they ask my name and address... and they check my name off my county's voter roll.  Then they print me a ballot and I go fill it out. 

But if I was an illegal or undocumented person... I would be stopped at step one.  So I don't even know how an illegal or undocumented person could vote.  And considering the penalties for voter fraud... I'd imagine an illegal or undocumented person trying to vote would be the last thing they'd try to do.

A quick Google search found this:

"The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 explicitly prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections. It is not legal in any state for a noncitizen to cast a ballot in a federal election."

I often hear Republicans say "millions of illegal aliens are voting!"   But it doesn't appear to be happening at the scale they think it is.

And it's incredibly easy to build a massive list of names and addresses, show up to their voting place, and vote for them.  It's easier yet to do this via an absentee ballet.  The loophole is basically solved by simply requiring an ID to be shown, just like the rest of the civilized world requires. 
That's besides the point though.  You don't need proof of massive fraud before implementing preventative measures.  There's simply zero excuse for not making voter ID laws mandatory nation wide.  It's baffling that people fight so dearly against it.

On 26/09/2024 at 13:54, Astra.Xtreme said:

There's simply zero excuse for not making voter ID laws mandatory nationwide.  It's baffling that people fight so dearly against it.


Maybe the reason states aren't making new voter ID laws is because it is already illegal to vote if you're a non-citizen.

Basically... you need to be registered before you can vote... and you need to be a US citizen before you can register.

Literally the first line of the requirements to register to vote in my state of North Carolina is:  "Be a citizen of the United States" 

I'm guessing it's the same in the other states, too.

And here's some interesting info:

"The right-leaning Heritage Foundation’s database of confirmed fraud cases lists less than 100 examples of non-citizens voting between 2002 and 2022, amid more than one billion lawfully cast ballots."

100 out of 1,000,000,000... over 20 years.

Quite the epidemic, huh...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.