I finally completed my absentee ballot and sent it in the mail today.  I had filled out most of it over the weekend, but only decided today who my choice for President was going to be.  Furthermore, I've decided that I'm not going to publicly declare the candidate for whom I voted...

Except to say that his last name includes the letter "A." :-)

I did think it was interesting to note, however, that the instructions enclosed with my voting materials actually specified that my ballot (absentee though it may be) will actually be counted on Election Day (as long as it's "received by the close of polls on election night") -- not just thrown on a pile in a back room, only to be opened up and counted in the event of a razor-thin election margin.  I'm not sure if this is a newer way of processing absentee ballots, or if it's just an Ohio thing, or if the old mental image of the "back room pile" was just a sort of urban myth related to the fact that absentee ballots can be received and processed within 10 days of the election (as long as they're post-marked before Election Day).

Just thought you might be interested to know.