Florida absentee voting. Good or bad idea?

I volunteer at a Kerry HQ's in Florida. Lots of people telling me they are voting absentee ballots. Any opinions, suggestions, knowledge about what is the best way to vote here? We're all real nervouse in Florida about the way to vote.

In CA anyone can do absentee ballot rather than go to polls. Inspite of Lockyear's (sp?) decision about Diebold machines, I'm voting absentee. However, Diebold still makes the optical scanners that count absentee ballots. You might want to check that out at your end. What kind of ballot is the absentee and who makes the machines that read them? Or are they hand counted?

Just like the computer ballots.

At the very least, with absetee ballots you have an official piece of paper that can be verified.

They made it so seniors can vote if they can't get out. You just have to have your vote submitted to supervisor of elections before 7 pm voting day.
And yes, it is a good paper trail. They claim that every absentee vote is counted...ha ha.

These ballots will probably be run through optical scan machines. Counties which use optical scan machines need to have the machine print results for the precinct before the results are transmitted by the modem to the election supervisor's office, by the way.

I have read that this is essential to help alleviate modem tampering with the results. Wish we were still using paper ballots and hand counting myself. If we can wait 35 days for the Supreme Court to halt the counting for the 2000 election, we can wait a few days for votes to be counted by hand. At the precincts would be ideal, I would think, under observation by the political parties. This would seem to be the fastest method, as precinct voter lists are not usually that large, at least not here in my county in Florida. Ours has not quite 2000 registered voters.

It seems the safest way imo.

You do not need to give a reason why you want to vote absentee in Florida. I always vote absentee because I am usually too busy on election day or else I work at the polls. A side benefit is that the majority of candidates will send you literature so you can become a better informed voter. The only thing to remember is that you cannot bring an absentee ballot to the polls; you either vote absentee or at the polls. This is always a big problem. If you bring an absentee ballot it is voided and you can vote there but you cannot hand it in like you can at the Supervisor of Elections office.