Voters have 30 days to mark their ballot and mail absentee back. If they can’t do that, their vote doesnt count.
Except for overseas and on board vessel US military. Then you get the ballot the week before the election.
Except if all the military are now voting online as FReeper Pepsionice says, that remedies this.
I am deeply troubled by the idea of voting online, though.
If it routes through the Internet, that’s just asking for trouble, fraud and abuse.
Absentee ballot requests and returns can be delayed by circumstances such as illness or the infirmity of the requesting voter. On more than one election day, I have driven around collecting and returning absentee ballots from elderly shut-ins, from people who are ill or on crutches or in a wheelchair due to an accident, and from harried young mothers stuck at home with children. The truth of the reason for why they need such last-minute help is usually obvious and incontestable.