How does voting-by-mail work?

Metro  Contributor  Each Election Day, Americans vote and take part in a fundamental principle of democracy. Elections take place on various levels, from local governments to presidential elections.  Until recently, in order to cast a ballot for a particular election, most voters had to physically appear at their respective polling locations and submit their votes in person. Mail-in voting, also known as absentee voting, was frowned upon and not widely available. It first arose during the Civil War, when soldiers were given the opportunity to cast ballots from the battlefield. Absentee voting later became an issue during World War II, when Congress passed laws in 1942 and 1944 enabling