Does not have to be same day but almost all has to be in person. If you can’t take the time to go vote, you don’t deserve to vote. Absentee should be strict and you follow the rules. I managed it while I was in the Army in Korea (before the internet).
Texas has strict rules for absentee ballots. In fact we never changed the requirements to get an absentee ballot. We just added a pretty generous early voting period that greatly decreased the need to submit absentee ballots. Furthermore early votes in Texas are the first results posted on election night immediately after poll closing time. Most counties in Texas get their tabulations finished by 10:30 pm. "Progressive" states like California take weeks to count their ballots, because they mostly use paper absentee ballots that are returned to polling locations.