Right. I'm not arguing for or against voting by mail or absentee ballots. I'm only pointing out that these voting methods come with risks, and it's better to be aware of the risks when deciding whether we want mail/absentee voting. There very well may be situations where absentee/mail voting is the best option (and possibly during this pandemic), but it would be disingenuous to pretend that they don't carry any risks. Like all public policy decisions, this is a cost-benefit analysis, and an informed decision needs to be aware of both costs and benefits.

My (poorly informed) understanding is that the difference between "absentee ballot" and "vote by mail" is with absentee voting you must first request a ballot, whereas with vote by mail, they send a ballot to every registered voter.

Seems pretty well the same to me, but I guess the having to request the ballot makes some people feel better about it.