That's what makes the whole thing questionable to me. I don't know how it's done in the US but even personal votes can be traced in the UK system.
I've voted absentee once and it was a long time ago so I may not remember the process exactly. I believe my ballot was a simple paper ballot where you check the box indicating the candidate you want to vote for. This gets stuffed in an envelope which has your name, address, etc. I think you sign something on the envelope saying that you voted, put the ballot in the envelope, and sealed it yourself (or something like that). Then you put this envelope in a mailing envelope and mail it to your local polling place.
I would assume they take the mailing envelope, open it, remove the voting envelope, take the info off the voting envelope, cross your name off the rolls, open the voting envelope and dump the vote in to a big bucket to be counted later. The vote itself isn't marked with your ID info but the envelope is. Still, it'd be very possible for the person doing the clerical work to look at your vote and tie your vote to your ID info.
