I just voted! Wait, I just voted?

I received my ballot in the mail yesterday. I didn't request this ballot. I was sent it because apparently the precinct of which I'm a member "contains less than 250 voters" and "has been designated a mail ballot precinct."

I thought this sounded a little odd, since I live in a highly populated area. Surprisingly, when I told Nathan what the letter said, he immediately jumped to the conclusion that it's a right wing conspiracy. It does feel fishy. I live in BERKELEY, CA, perhaps the most liberal city in the country, located in the bay area's Alameda county, population ~1.5 million. And I'm being told there are too few voters in my precinct? Admittedly, I don't know how "precinct" is defined, but I can't think of one definition that would equal fewer than 250 registered Berkeley residents.

For the past two presidential elections, there have been odd occurrences with regard to historically blue or swing-likely-to-go-blue voting areas. And it looks like politics as usual this election. Theoretically, whether I cast a mail-in ballot or physically mark my ballot at a polling site should make no difference. But if my ballot gets "lost" in the mail, maybe because it's coming from a liberal locale, then my vote doesn't get counted. Period. If that were to mysteriously happen, I don't suppose it would make a huge difference for CA, because it's nearly guaranteed that CA will go blue. But if a bunch of Berkeley, San Francisco, etc mail ballots get "lost" then what? I dunno.

Opinions welcomed.