Compare it to Germany, which is twice as big and does much the same, except that voting be mail has a different deadline. Germany typically delivers the results

Compare it to Germany, which is twice as big and does much the same, except that voting be mail has a different deadline. Germany typically delivers the results during the night after the election, but the votes are counted again in the following week anyway, by people who work nine to five. The big, big difference is that checking someone's identity and eligibility to vote is trivial in Germany. I venture to guess that that affects speed and perhaps reliability.