In these days of hanging chads and other inconguities including voting machines--computers, I have heard those who advocate sending in those
absentee ballots as a way to make sure your vote is cast using a paper ballot, which is traceable. If the info from a computer is lost, there is no way to do a re-count. I live in a rural area, and the technology is sort of backwards here, so we still use paper ballots, but I fear the day when they are eliminated. I would rather trust the post office than a computer with my vote!