Voting Absentee

I am disallusioned by the new voting process that we have in Washington. We now have all mail in voting. It worries me.
Let me start out by saying that I love going to the polls. I would get up on election day and get my kids dressed and we would all troop off to go vote. They would watch my wife and I cast our ballots and they would ask us how we voted and why we voted that way. It was a great civics lesson that I no longer get to teach first hand. I liked the ritual and the powerful lesson it taught to my children that this was an important, even sacred, obligation that I had to take part in this grand experiment and to in some small measure try to pay back those who have sacrificed thier time, talents, and even thier lives for my freedom.
Now I sit at the table and fill out my ballot and hope that it gets delivered, my signature gets verified and the elections department actually counts it.
Last August during our primary election, my ballot was returned. It was sent from Duvall, went through 2 post offices, was post marked in Seattle and then got sent back. For the general election in November I drove my ballot 35 miles to a drop box. I felt as if I sacrificed something and my vote seemed more valuable. I struggle now to find ways to encourage my fellow citizens to see the value and the great honor of voting and to esteem it as the precious gift it is.
I'll finish up with a quote from the real Thomas Paine:
"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. 'Tis dearness only that gives everything its value.”