1) if a ballot isn't in by Election Day, it doesn't get counted, period.
2) If anyone prevents a ballot from getting in (either through malice or incompetence, it doesn't matter), it's death or life w/o parole (either one will do).
Well, in my personal case, I called 3 times for an absentee ballot once I discovered that the elections department registered me in a city I've never lived in that was about an hour and a half away. They never did get me set up to vote absentee and I had to vote provisionally. Of course it's acceptable to defraud non-democrat voters in King County WA (where I live).