Legal != honest. Election security laws would be meaningless otherwise.

Yes there are obviously ways this process can be corrupted and abused by malicious actors

Correct. That's why ballot harvesting is opposed by (honest) Republicans and supported by Democrats. It opens the door to all kinds of dirty tricks. There was an incident in Florida where ballot harvesters were changing or discarding Republican ballots. Funny how it's never the other way around.

Mind you, I'm in favor of playing as dirty as the other side does since that's the only way to win these days. I just don't think we should pretend that we're being any more honest than the Dems are when they do it. Stopping the shenanigans all together would still be my first choice.