The space vote is already in:
(Bloomberg) -- Two U.S. astronauts with an unrivaled view of the nation's electoral landscape cast early ballots today aboard the International Space Station.
Commander E. Michael Fincke and flight engineer Greg Chamitoff made their choices on a laptop computer with a secure connection, said James Hartsfield, a spokesman at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
It's the second time U.S. astronauts have voted for president from space, the first being in 2004. Today's votes will be tabulated by clerks' offices in Harris and Brazoria counties, Texas, where the astronauts live.
"I'm not sure whether it's an absentee ballot,'' Hartsfield said by telephone. "It's considered a vote from space.''
The astronauts didn't reveal whether they favored Republican John McCain, the senator from Arizona, or his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, Hartsfield said. Election Day is tomorrow.
Fincke, 41, has been on the space station since mid-October, arriving on a Russian Soyuz vehicle. He'll remain aboard until April.
Chamitoff, 46, reached the orbiting outpost in June via the space shuttle that delivered the Japanese-built Kibo science lab. He'll return from his mission late this month.
The Texas legislature approved in-orbit votes in 1997, clearing the way for the Houston-based astronaut corps to join the democratic process while in space.
Civic Duty
The county clerk's office first sends a secure ballot to the astronaut's e-mail. He or she then fills it out and sends it back to the government official, Hartsfield said.
The first U.S. astronaut to cast a vote in orbit was David Wolf aboard the Russian space station Mir in 1997.
The astronauts encouraged citizens to fulfill their civic duty tomorrow.
"If we can vote from up here, so can you,'' Chamitoff said in a televised message on NASA TV.
He and Fincke then pushed away from laptops affixed to a wall and floated away down a station corridor.
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