US Election 2016: Astronaut Kimbrough votes from space

By the time he returns home to earth in February, America will have a new president.

Like many Americans, Shane Kimbrough cast his ballot for President on Tuesday. But rather than head to a polling place to stand in line with his fellow Americans, Kimbrough did so while orbiting the earth at 17,000 miles an hour in the International Space Station.
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According to NASA, Kimbrough - who has been onboard the ISS since mid-October - filed his ballot at some point over the last few days. By the time he returns home to earth in February, America will have a new president.

"I'll be glad to welcome the new president, whoever that is," he told reporters last month, noting that astronauts are generally "apolitical".
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The voting process for astronauts begins a year prior to their launch into space, when they are able to select which elections - be they local, state or federal - that they want to participate in. Six months before launch they are given a "Voter Registration and Absentee Ballot Request - Federal Post Card Application", the same standard form given to all American voters residing abroad.
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Astronauts have been allowed to vote since the state of Texas, where most astronauts reside when not in space, introduced legislation in 1997. That year, astronaut David Wolf became the first space voter while docked with the Russian space station Mir.
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Speaking to Space.com, another astronaut, Kate Rubins - who cast her vote before returning to earth last week - explained that the address of astronauts is listed as "low-Earth orbit".
"I think it's pretty amazing," Rubin said in an October interview for NASA's weekly "Space to Ground" update from the ISS. "It's very incredible that we're able to vote from up here, and I think it's incredibly important for us to vote in all of the elections."
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The one negative aspect of space voting, NASA notes on its website, is that astronauts "miss out on the highly coveted 'I Voted' sticker."
bernd@khaleejtimes.com

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