Pylon, PL– Platha State Union Steward-Premier Alexander Botchy appeared triumphant as he stood in the parking lot of the Platha State Union Building in Downtown Pylon. Flanked by recently appointed Governor Alexander Osten and Communications Commandant Dmetri Treskeshuvya-Schodtiv, and surrounded by distinguished and heavily-armed members of the Platha State Union Precautionary Brigade, Steward-Premier Botchy led a hastily assembled crowd in a hearty rendition of the unofficial State Anthem, Hell on Wheels, before announcing the official election results.

While reporters and citizens not approved by members of the Political Conclave were barred from documenting or recording the announcement, my translator from the Ministry of Historical Document Distribution provided a transcript and press release stating:

The People of Platha have once again wisely chosen to allow the Platha State Union to govern them. This is a day of great victory for Platha and a day of humiliating defeat for the Enemy Party, who received not one vote. What a wondrous and historic day for the institution of democracy and for the people of Platha.

As a result of this new election the Platha State Union retained an overwhelming majority of 100% in the four member Council of Control, the eight member House of Progress Determination, the twelve-member State Senate and the eighteen-member People’s Committee for Authorization. Currently, the ballots and elections are under the control of the three members of the Committee for Leadership, a sub-committee of State Union’s Council for Perpetuation of Progress. In their next session, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear the cases American Freedom Party vs. Platha State Union and Free America Party vs. Alexander Reich. In both cases plaintiffs claimed the Platha State Union has engaged in unfair and illegal election practices.

Officially sanctioned ballots in Platha only carry candidates from the Platha State Union or the Evil Enemy Party, a strange fact since the Evil Enemy Party appears to have no members and has never put up a candidate for any office. Further, issue and candidate advertising during the election cycle is restricted to segments approved by PTV, a television and radio station owned by the Platha State Union. PTV is the only broadcast medium available within state bounds, enforced by signal jamming equipment located on the periphery of the state. The titles of some such advertising include “Platha State Union and the Glory of Beets,” “Ideology and You: The Platha State Union,” and “The Evil Enemy Party Destroys Commerce, Souls, and Babies in the Service of the Great Capitalist Menace Next Door Bent on Control of the Proletariat for Its Own Nefarious Devices.” Neighboring state governors have complained about many of the broadcasts, which demonize and dehumanize their citizens.

Others have charged that Platha has denied the right to vote to many of its citizens through the practice of having only a single State-wide polling precinct open for fifteen minutes per year. An additional lawsuit is planned by the ACLU to challenge the Committee for Leadership’s decision to satisfy these complaints by installing the state-wide precinct within a dirigible instructed to land randomly throughout the state over the course of ten hours.

Despite the difficulties Plathans might face in choosing their representatives in the state’s quadricameral legislature, the ordinary people I was allowed to speak with: a high-tech computer man, an award winning author and novelist, and a conductor of a fast, efficient new train network; read from cards about how much they believe in Platha’s flourishing democracy.

“We believe in democracy, and nothing is brings freedom than tireless work of Platha State Union” read one young woman. “Never would I choose to leaving such a land of prosperity, freedom and accomplishment. I vote for progress provided by fair and just wisdom of Platha State Union.”