TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A law passed in the U.S. in 1997 amplified the importance of protecting suffrage for all while also proving that distance should never hinder anyone from voting for their future — something to keep in mind as Taiwanese head to the polls on Saturday (Jan. 11).

According to the Texas Administrative Code Section 81.35 passed in the Lone Star State, home of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, 23 years ago, an astronaut who meets the eligibility requirements of a voter under the Texas Election Code has the right to vote from space.

Astronauts are able to select which elections (local/state/federal) they want to participate in one year before launch. Then, six months before the election, astronauts have to file out a mail-in application form to register as voters and request absentee ballots.

Before Election Day, encrypted electronic ballots are uplinked to the registered astronauts with their address listed as "low-Earth orbit." Upon receiving the ballots by e-mail, astronauts can cast their votes and downlink them back down to Earth to their county clerk’s office, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

NASA astronaut David Wolf first took part in space voting the year it was implemented while on the Russian Mir space station. In 2004, Leroy Chiao became the first person to vote in a U.S. presidential election from the International Space Station, according to Space.com.

Thanks to the law, astronauts do not have to travel 200 miles back to the Earth to cast their votes. The only disadvantage of space voting is that these voters will not be awarded a time-honored "I Voted" sticker after beaming their ballots back to Earth.

"I Voted" stickers (Unsplash photo)