Corrine Morse voted in the 2016 presidential election using a very slow fax machine in Antarctica. Antarctica is the southernmost continent on Earth. The South Pole is there.
For 20 minutes, Morse watched as the machine made weird noises. Then, it finally printed the page she needed. This page showed her vote was sent to Texas, where she is registered to vote.
The fax machine was in Morse’s office at McMurdo Station. This is the biggest U.S. research base on Antarctica’s large ice sheet. It was the only sure way she and about 100 others working there could vote from far away. They joined other Americans who have voted from far-off places on Earth. A few people have even voted from space.
“Whoever is very gung ho about voting is going to do it,” Morse said.
Astronauts Stuck On Space Station Will Vote
Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who are in space until February 2025, are voting from space. Their space trip was supposed to be eight days in June. But their spaceship, Starliner, had problems and returned to Earth without them.
Astronauts can vote from space with a computer. Their votes are sent to the voting clerk in their home counties. On September 13, Wilmore said voting is a “very important role that we all play as citizens.”
“And NASA makes it very easy for us to do that, so we’re excited about that opportunity,” he said.
In March, astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara voted from space for a primary election. They posed from the space station with a small American flag. In October 2020, astronaut Kate Rubins voted from space. She posed near a handwritten sign that said “ISS voting booth.”
How Voting From Space Started
NASA astronauts have voted from space since 1997. This happened after Texas passed a law that let astronauts who lived near the NASA base in Texas vote from space. They get their secure voting papers, or ballots, by email and vote from computers on the space station. Ballots that are sent in from far away are called absentee ballots.
Ballots are tested with a special password. They are then sent to each astronaut with details about how each can log in to a computer, said Rosio Torres-Segura. She works for the Harris County Clerk. Harris County is where astronauts often live. It’s close to NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Texas.
In 1955, the U.S. started a program to help soldiers and other Americans living far away to vote. They use a form to sign up and ask for an absentee ballot.
Even though many people vote this way, problems can happen. Sometimes, mail gets delayed or lost. The U.S. Antarctic Program, which runs U.S. science work in Antarctica, warns people who want to vote from Antarctica about these mail problems.
Voting From Antarctica In Election 2016
In 2016, Morse had the only fax machine at McMurdo. It was in her office.
McMurdo has a post office, but most people used Morse’s fax to send their votes. She kept a list of places in the U.S. where votes should be sent. This helped everyone send their votes to the right place.
People at McMurdo were far from the U.S. during the 2016 presidential election. Still, they felt the concern and nervous feelings around candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Candidates are the people running for an office or position.
Morse helped about 100 voters who thought differently about who should win. When Donald Trump won, some people at McMurdo were happy. Others were upset.
Before the election, Morse made sure anyone who wanted to vote could.
“I really wanted to make sure that people’s voices were heard,” she said.
