astronauts

Two American astronauts cast vote from space

astronauts MNA Technology Desk: Two American astronauts orbiting the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour have cast their votes from space in the US president election 2016 on Tuesday.

According to NASA, astronaut Shane Kimbrough has officially filed his electronic absentee ballot from the International Space Station (ISS).

Another astronaut Kate Rubins cast her ballot before returning to Earth last week. Thanks to a bill passed by Texas legislatures in 1997 that put in place technical voting procedure for astronauts, the two astronauts – residents of Houston where the Johnson Space Centre is located a. voted while in orbit.

The United States presidential election of 2016, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, was the 58th and most recent quadrennial U.S. presidential election. The Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and will take office as the 45th President on January 20, 2017.

For astronauts, the voting process starts a year before launch when they are able to select which elections (local/state/federal) that they want to participate in while in space.

Then, six months before the election, astronauts are provided with a standard form: the “Voter Registration and Absentee Ballot Request – Federal Post Card Application”, the US space agency said in a statement.

“Space voting” was first used the same year it was implemented in 1997. NASA astronaut David Wolf became the first American to vote in space while on the Russian Mir Space Station.

Voters selected presidential electors, who in turn will vote, based on the results of their jurisdiction, for a new president and vice president through the Electoral College. The term limit established in the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents the incumbent president, Barack Obama of the Democratic Party, from being elected to a third term.

The 2016 election determined the 45th President and 48th Vice President of the United States.

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