[vonmoltke]

> Other developed countries have, for decades, reliably given results within hours of polls closing, without "automation or obscure technology".

How do these other countries handle mail-in ballots? In most (maybe all) US states, a ballot postmarked on election day is valid as long as it is received by some specific point (usually Friday) after election day. Thus, in the US there are an undetermined number of valid votes that have not even been received by election officials yet.

[disgu]

Germany: Every person over the age of 18 is automatically registered to vote. The right to vote cannot be lost.

Every registered voter gets a letter some time before the election and if you want to vote by mail you have to send the letter back for free and they'll send everything over. The ballots have to be received by the end of the day of election. There's a lot of time so you won't miss that date. The letter you get to remind you of voting also contains information about where you have to be to vote in person.

There's very little last minute changes in Germany. The election is not decided in the last couple of weeks before the election, people have made up their minds at that point.

I think the crucial part is that there's absolutely no effort involved. You basically show up at the polling place on the Sunday of the election and you're good to go. If you're too lazy for that you can to everything by mail. If you decide to vote by mail and then forget to send it via the post you can just drop it off at the polling station as well.

[ac29]

> The ballots have to be received by the end of the day of election.

The argument here is: why should someone who voted on election day, or even a day or two before have their vote thrown out because their ballot doesnt arrive to be counted until the day after the election?

I think the argument that there is plenty of time is reasonable, but many elections in the US can be very, very close, so it does matter. Throwing out valid ballots that were mailed on or before election day effectively disenfranchises people (keep in mind some people cant go to polls to vote or drop off ballots, and in some places it is illegal to have anyone besides the registered voter drop off the ballot, so it must be mailed).

[slaman]

In Canada, mail in ballots have a separate, earlier deadline.

If you do not mail your ballot on time, there is another simple solution, you go to the (lineless) polls on election day.

When they check everyone in they confirm that they have not already received a mail-in-ballot from that individual before allowing you to the booth.

With enough time allocated for mail-in-ballots, I feel that it doesn't matter that the deadline is earlier. Deadlines are fairly arbitrary either way and at some point you need to select a winner.

If you have plenty of opportunity to vote and you do not vote by the deadline, your vote is not counted regardless of the method you have chosen.

[cameronh90]

Those rules just sound like a bad idea that should be changed.

In the UK at least, it needs to be with your local authority by 10PM on polling day. If you fail to send it in time, you can just bring it down manually instead.

(aside: I am generally opposed to postal voting. Postal vote seems even more prone to abuse than remote electronic voting.)