Good post. I agree with most of it but have a problem with using just machines.
Mail in voting does have lots of problems as we know and can lead to boxes of ballots coming in in the dead of night. So I agree with you there. Absentee voting has less of a chance of fraud if, and a big IF, you have a check on who sent the ballot in and verify eligibility. Once you remove the ballot from the envelope any chance of catching a problem is gone.
I like paper ballots counted by machines. Machine-only voting is subject to programming errors and we have seen that has been a problem in places. If you have a corrupt company doing the programming you are already behind the starting line. But having a properly verified paper ballot cast, entered and counted by a machine gives you a backup for correcting machine error. An example is the problem in Arizona - voters there used sharpie pens that bled through the paper (the mistake was the paper used was too thin). The rejected ballots can be hand counted so no foul. Using only a machine with a touch screen means a malfunctioning machine can disregard voter intent and like an improperly verified paper ballot cast an incorrect vote.