American astronauts Doug Wheelock (from left), Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Shannon Walker

Not only are astronauts able to get on twitter and check in in on Foursquare, they can also vote from space. Thanks to a 1997 Texas law Astronaut Doug Wheelock, Shannon Walker and Scott Kelly cast their ballots from the International Space Station, 220 miles above the Earth.

How do they do it? “Voting from space involves a complex, secure e-mail system which beams the votes back down to Earth, though there’s no word yet on whether Google’s new vote mapping technology aided in moving the space ballots from Mission Control to the local polling station.” -time.com

It takes a huge effort to get those votes in, and certainly people have fought and died for the right to vote in this country. Odds are it’s considerably easier for you to vote. Did you vote? If so why? If not why?

Src: Interstellar Voting: The Astronauts Have Cast Ballots – From Space. So What’s Your Excuse?