If you can't get to the polls and operate the voting machine on your own, you shouldn't be voting,
Do be careful with your assumptions. Physical disability does not equal mental disability. Requiring assistance with machines or needing an elevator to get to the voting areas in schools or churches does not make someone incapable of voting.
And we should make sure that there are polling places that work for people with physical disabilities. We don't need to maintain the current system where everybody is automatically assigned to a single polling place based on their home address.
With current technology, it shouldn't be that hard to offer different ballots at the same polling place. I'd be all in favor of setting up polling places in large assisted living facilities, and letting anyone who needs special accommodations use those polling places as long as they can get there. There's no reason transportation can't be offered by groups that are concerned about mentally competent people with physical disabilities being disenfranchised for lack of accessible transportation.
But when push comes to shove, life is unfair, and destroying the integrity of our elections in an effort to make life fair for every single person, is not the right approach. Disabled people's legitimate votes are neutralized by fraudulent votes, just as much as nondisabled people's legitimate vote are neutralized that way, through the inherently unsecurable absentee voting system.
If people are so disabled that they are unable to get to an accessible polling place and vote without on-site assistance in the voting booth (made as accessible as possible without compromising election security), then there is no way to secure their ability to cast uncoerced votes. Maintaining an absentee voting system for the sake of a tiny number of severely physically disabled people just results in effectively disenfranchising a lot of legitimate voters, both disabled and nondisabled. People who are severely physical disabled are inherently dependent on caregivers, whether paid or family members, and a huge number are exploited in many ways by their caregivers and others who have access to them. And that creates the opportunity for coercion with any method of voting which involves someone else being able to see what candidates the disabled person voted for.
Absentee ballots create a lot of opportunity for nondisabled people to be exploited too, if they're if low socioeconomic status and simply can't afford to lose a job. With no mechanism for verifying an actual need for an absentee ballot, people can be coerced into requesting an absentee ballot and then into showing the coercing party what candidates were selected on the ballot before it's sealed up and mailed. And the coercing party can insist on mailing it too, so that even if the person chose the candidates they really wanted, their ballot can be discarded by the coercing party without their knowledg (putting the voter at risk of being charged with election fraud if they suspect their absentee ballot wasn't mailed in, and try to vote at their regular polling place).
Absentee voting just completely eliminates the concept of every voter being able to cast a ballot in secrecy, with no one else able to see or confirm which candidates they voted for.
Do be careful with your assumptions. Physical disability does not equal mental disability. Requiring assistance with machines or needing an elevator to get to the voting areas in schools or churches does not make someone incapable of voting.
And we should make sure that there are polling places that work for people with physical disabilities. We don't need to maintain the current system where everybody is automatically assigned to a single polling place based on their home address.
With current technology, it shouldn't be that hard to offer different ballots at the same polling place. I'd be all in favor of setting up polling places in large assisted living facilities, and letting anyone who needs special accommodations use those polling places as long as they can get there. There's no reason transportation can't be offered by groups that are concerned about mentally competent people with physical disabilities being disenfranchised for lack of accessible transportation.
But when push comes to shove, life is unfair, and destroying the integrity of our elections in an effort to make life fair for every single person, is not the right approach. Disabled people's legitimate votes are neutralized by fraudulent votes, just as much as nondisabled people's legitimate vote are neutralized that way, through the inherently unsecurable absentee voting system.
If people are so disabled that they are unable to get to an accessible polling place and vote without on-site assistance in the voting booth (made as accessible as possible without compromising election security), then there is no way to secure their ability to cast uncoerced votes. Maintaining an absentee voting system for the sake of a tiny number of severely physically disabled people just results in effectively disenfranchising a lot of legitimate voters, both disabled and nondisabled. People who are severely physical disabled are inherently dependent on caregivers, whether paid or family members, and a huge number are exploited in many ways by their caregivers and others who have access to them. And that creates the opportunity for coercion with any method of voting which involves someone else being able to see what candidates the disabled person voted for.
Absentee ballots create a lot of opportunity for nondisabled people to be exploited too, if they're if low socioeconomic status and simply can't afford to lose a job. With no mechanism for verifying an actual need for an absentee ballot, people can be coerced into requesting an absentee ballot and then into showing the coercing party what candidates were selected on the ballot before it's sealed up and mailed. And the coercing party can insist on mailing it too, so that even if the person chose the candidates they really wanted, their ballot can be discarded by the coercing party without their knowledg (putting the voter at risk of being charged with election fraud if they suspect their absentee ballot wasn't mailed in, and try to vote at their regular polling place).
Absentee voting just completely eliminates the concept of every voter being able to cast a ballot in secrecy, with no one else able to see or confirm which candidates they voted for.