Tabulating ballots as they are received eliminates the secret ballot. Ballots should be sorted into precincts beforehand.
Many larger jurisdictions use high speed image scanners for their postal ballots and adjudicate voter intent electronically (no paper record).
Election integrity types consider postal balloting and touchscreens roughly equivalent.
The gold standard is poll sites where the ballots are tabulated onsite immediately after the polls close. Anything else compromises public voting, private counting, or both, in some way. Though sometimes the tradeoff is worthwhile, eg enfranchising voters.
Many larger jurisdictions use high speed image scanners for their postal ballots and adjudicate voter intent electronically (no paper record).
Election integrity types consider postal balloting and touchscreens roughly equivalent.
The gold standard is poll sites where the ballots are tabulated onsite immediately after the polls close. Anything else compromises public voting, private counting, or both, in some way. Though sometimes the tradeoff is worthwhile, eg enfranchising voters.