CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space station's newest astronaut will cast his ballot in the presidential election from 225 miles up, with NASA (news - web sites)'s help.
Leroy Chiao said Monday that the space agency has worked hard with local and federal authorities so he can vote from the orbiting complex, his home until spring. He will cast his ballot via a secure e-mail connection, much the same way another astronaut did from Russia's Mir space station (news - web sites) in 1997.
U.S. astronauts, most of whom live around Houston, won the right to vote from space under a Texas bill signed into law by then-Gov. George W. Bush.
"Definitely, I'll be exercising my civic right and my civic duty," Chiao said.
Chiao arrived at the station over the weekend via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that also carried two cosmonauts, one of whom will spend the next six months with him in orbit.
The astronaut he is replacing, Mike Fincke, said he, too, will vote — but by absentee ballot from Russia. That is where Fincke will be on Election Day, recuperating from a six-month space station mission that is due to end with a landing in Kazakhstan this weekend.
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Space Station Astronaut to Vote From Orbit
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CaptainChewbacca
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I'm surprised they needed to pass a law to allow voting from space.
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You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker
Now we'll be hearing about the number of undecideds in outer space, and both John Kerry and George Bush will be suiting up and heading out on the next shuttle. 
Although--this brings up an interesting point.
Which district is Space in? Who's the governor? The astronauts are still being taxed in orbit, but who is representing them in congress? No one! Sure the can vote in texas, but texas is on earth, not up there.
TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!!!!!
Although--this brings up an interesting point.
Which district is Space in? Who's the governor? The astronauts are still being taxed in orbit, but who is representing them in congress? No one! Sure the can vote in texas, but texas is on earth, not up there.
TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!!!!!
I would have thought they all just filled out absentee ballots since they are out of the country and all...
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SDNW4 Nation: The Refuge And, on Nova Terra, Al-Stan the Totally and Completely Honest and Legitimate Weapons Dealer and Used Starship Salesman slept on a bed made of money, with a blaster under his pillow and his sombrero pulled over his face. This is to say, he slept very well indeed.
SDNW4 Nation: The Refuge And, on Nova Terra, Al-Stan the Totally and Completely Honest and Legitimate Weapons Dealer and Used Starship Salesman slept on a bed made of money, with a blaster under his pillow and his sombrero pulled over his face. This is to say, he slept very well indeed.
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White Haven
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Eventually that Email security will be compromised, and they'll have to fill out absentee ballots and get them back to the US by special orbit-drop capsules. 
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