Some countries provide absentee ballot only for residents living abroad. However some countries allow voters to choose either direct vote or absentee voting. Many of you, who are living in United States, know that you can vote by mail instead of standing in the queue on the election day. This is absentee ballot in practice.
What happens, if people are not on earth but floating in space? Such people are called astronauts. Texas passed a bill in 1997 to extend voting facilities for astronauts who are not on the earth on the election day. Texas election officials used secure email as voting procedure for astronaut in 2009 elections. However Indian government is not extending absentee voting rights for NRIs who are living on earth.
See Democracy in orbit in "voters without borders" association that is fighting for absentee voting rights or nasa article about "Leroy Chiao' who used absentee voting as astronaut in 2004 elections.
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