in prior general elections. But with the stakes so high, and divisions so pronounced, it worries me more this year.
My thinking at this point is that I'm leaning towards mailing it normally. If I go down to my local registrar's office, I actually have no idea who I'm handing my ballot to. It's a small office in a small town in a deeply red area. I really don't want my ballot to stand out in any way, shape or form, or to give a single unsupervised person time alone with my ballot. I want it to be in a big pile with other ballots and other mail where more than one person is present so the likelihood of anything happening to it is remote. I'm not going to, as some people have suggested, put a bunch of stamps on it (our ballots are postage-paid). I just want it to look like every other ballot and for it to work its way through the process.
Also, I have a really good relationship with my mail carrier and know he wouldn't do anything to my ballot.
I know that sounds a little paranoid and maybe counter-intuitive.
If there are flaws in my thinking, I want people to point it out. But for now, I think I'll go with regular mail. Our mail hasn't been slowed down and if I mail it Tuesday or Wednesday, it should have plenty of time to get where it needs to go.