Attempting to stay out of the political debate on who to vote for or why, I did do a absentee ballot for NH. Pretty easy, I was in at the town clerks office registering my car which requires showing my drivers license (NH now requires proof of ID) I asked for the absentee package which included an outer return envelope and a inner envelope for the ballot. The inner envelope requires a signature declaring my intent to use an absentee ballot complete with a post it note where I needed to sign on the inner envelope. I then filled in my choices on the ballot and inserted it in the inner envelope and sealed it and then dropped it off in the outer mailing envelope at the clerks office instead of mailing it back in. NH does not allow remote drop boxes but does allow the town clerk to accept it up to election day in person or by mail. NH (and a lot of other states) has a tracking application run by the NH secretary of state that lists what date I picked up the package and what date I returned it to the clerk and finally if it was processed on election day. If the inner envelope was signed in the wrong place or not signed, the clerk can contact the voter to let them know that they did something wrong and allow them to come in an correct it or get a new one. It stays in a safe in town hall until the election and then when the regular polls are slow they open the envelope in front of the registrars and the town moderator who runs the vote and they check off my name off the voters list when they open the inner envelope and then slide the ballot through the scanner. The scanner is not hooked to the internet and the paper ballots are stored in the scanner and retained. When the polls close, the registrar checks the results and reports them to secretary of state. if someone attempted to vote in person and send in an absentee ballot the voter list would indicate that the absentee ballot had already been received and the walk in voter would not be allowed to vote
I am from a small town and most of the people who work the polls are older ladies, I am not worried about any issues on my part about regular voting but less stress for them, if they have to deal with fewer voters on election day. An adjacent very small town (300 voters) have let their voters know that they would really appreciate mail in absentee ballots but will set up the people and equipment to do an in place vote just in case someone really wants to vote on election day. it varies town by town.
I am from a small town and most of the people who work the polls are older ladies, I am not worried about any issues on my part about regular voting but less stress for them, if they have to deal with fewer voters on election day. An adjacent very small town (300 voters) have let their voters know that they would really appreciate mail in absentee ballots but will set up the people and equipment to do an in place vote just in case someone really wants to vote on election day. it varies town by town.
