Most places you can vote by mail. You just have to lie and say you expect to be out of town on Election Day. If your parents don't feel OK about lying, just arrange an overnight trip for them. Usually out of the county is far enough.

For people of working age, it's even easier. "I expect to be on a business trip." "Oh, well, the trip was canceled."

I agree with you, except on one point. As a postal worker, I assure you that your mailed-in absentee ballot is scrupulously handled by the USPS. As a former Judge of Elections, let me go through the procedure once it is delivered. In Illinois, the absentee ballots are sent unopened to your local precinct. After the polls close, a check is made to see if you also came in. If you did, the ballot envelope is marked "Voted in Person" and sent unopened to storage with the other ballots. If you didn't vote in person, the envelope is opened, and the contents are placed in the ballot box without anyone looking at it. Really, no one looks at the handful of absentee ballots. Besides, being illegal, everyone is exhausted and in a hurry to get the damn things counted and then go home.

In Illinois, we have early voting but BY SEQUOIA MACHINE ONLY! Trust the US Mail, not some hackable voting machine.

Regarding the holiday, I believe most of Europe votes on Sunday afternoon. Precincts are small enough that the long lines are avoided. Of course, here in the USA, the Sarah Palins want you to spend all day Sunday in Church.

enhanced by drive-by "convenience"

Bullshit!  Some of us are disabled.  Some of us have no cars.  Some of us are elderly.

Some of us are students, living on campus.  Some of us are business travelers or people on-call 24 hours.  Some of us are parents juggling jobs and kids with only a tight window for voting.  Some of us live in places where blizzards make driving or walking outdoors dangerous.

California usually has a long list of propositions, and there are probably other states where people might want to think about bond issues or school board members.  It isn't just the top of the ticket, but choices and decisions all the way down.  That takes time.

Mail-in ballots can be verified with an address and signature check.  If there are a bunch of names from one address, a check can be made to see if it is a frat house or senior center or whatever.  Mail-in ballots usually arrive early enough to get the checking out of the way before election day, and even afterward there is a period of time before the tally is certified.  In places with hackable machines (such as California), the paper mail-in ballot provides a backup.

Do you want to disenfranchise everybody except the chauffered rich and sunbelt dwellers?  (If it takes McCain 9 cars to go to Starbuck's for a morning coffee, how many are required to escort him to the polls?!?)

The circumstances I mention (elderly, disabled, student, etc.) apply to Republicans and Libertarians and Greenies as well as Democrats.  Snow falls on everyone.  So does old age.

Yet, we all have the Right to Vote.

My vote-by-mail ballot arrived 2 days ago. :)