I have been telling stories like this for a long time. Vote by mail should only be used if you are truly an absentee voter, elderly, not mobile, etc.
There is to much of a chance for fraud, abuse and pressure to vote a certain way.
Below is a story from the BBC about voting in the UK.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/...
Votes scam 'may have swayed poll'
Postal vote-rigging may have influenced the outcome of local elections in London, a Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) report has revealed.
...
Truly secret ballot
In the report published on Monday, Mr Hayman said people in minority communities are most at risk because the postal voting forms appear to be so complex.
There is also anecdotal evidence of senior family members instructing relatives to vote for a specific party or candidate.
Mr Hayman said: "Postal voting increases this risk as the safeguard of a truly secret ballot is removed."
read the rest here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/...
More below...
I have heard in the past of problems like this in the USA.
Churches or church elders filling in the ballots for their flock.
Submissive women and family members being told how to vote or having their voting done for them by the "man" of the house.
Without truly secret ballots, we are just building in another way of manipulating the voters and the vote.
I will always go to the my polling place until the drag it away from me. I like the feeling of really voting and I like seeing democracy in action (once we get rid of the Diebold problems). We still have papers ballots here in Pierce County, WA
Plus... election day is no longer "election day" it is just the end of that current election.
If I voted now using an absentee ballot, then I am cheating myself out of knowing everything that there is to know about a candidate (what if candidate X was outed, a week before the election, as being a ... hmmm.. a child molestor but I had already voted for him/her?)
My thoughts and I am sticking to them!