Star Polls: the First Primary
In the far future, Humanity is a member of a unified galactic government made up of a variety of sentient races. Comprised of trillions of citizens, the bloated government is so weighed down by bureaucracy and a myriad of internal problems, that change happens very slowly, while small and seemingly mundane issues are handled with seriousness and put through a pan-galactic vote that takes years to count.
In 1022 AF (After Formation), a race of teddy-like aliens called the Ishudavores, who can change their species’ color every 10 years, asks the galaxy to vote on which color they should go with, with this year’s choices being Lavender and Rust. Despite being a relatively tiny issue, the vote is nonetheless treated as seriously as a galactic election, and great effort and media coverage is brought to both sides of the vote. The “1022 color change” soon becomes a dominant topic that is sensationalized in the media all throughout the galaxy, and election fever becomes inescapable.
Kelly Herald, a top campaigner for the Lavender camp, is sent with the campaign ship, the Headline, to the Lagoon Nebula in an attempt to gain support for their color.
(Written as a political satire that comments on how sensational politics in American have gotten.)