I thought I could give my overseas absentee ballot to a visiting friend to drop it in the USPS mail system for delivery.
No! Overseas ballots must start their postal return and be postmarked from outside of the US.
Unless you are voting from a military base, do not take your overseas postal ballot back to the US and put it into the US mail system.
An overseas postal ballot that arrives without an overseas postmark can be quickly disqualified. Don't take your ballot back or give it to a visiting friend to mail when they are back in the US. That can result in your ballot not being counted.
Overseas Vote strongly advises you to take your ballot to your local post office and mail it from there. Be sure that the envelope is postmarked clearly to show the location from which it is mailed and the date of mailing.
Give your ballot plenty of time to arrive. Vote and post your ballot back promptly after it arrives to you.
If you are sending your ballot back using an electronic return method, like email, ballot upload, or fax return, this of course does not apply! Look up your state's ballot return options in our State Voter Information directory - check out the Voter Materials Transmission Options in your state.