So many things in His Robot Girlfriend were not that different than in our own times (because I don’t think the 2030s will really be all that different), that I struggled to add a few fantastic elements.  It is after all, a science fiction story.

One area that I changed up quite a bit from our present world was the presidential election that is occurring in the background of the story.  I made three parties the status quo in the stories, not because I’m an advocate of the Green Party (who is the third along with the Democrats and Republicans), though I do consider myself an environmentalist, but I just thought three parties would be more interesting.  I don’t think America will ever have more than two major parties (the 1912 election nowithstanding).  I also gave the US 57 states, including Cuba– also pretty unlikely.

Some reforms that I added that I do think might happen, and would be welcome, are Internet voting, and a single election time across the nation.  In the story, voting occurs between 7AM Eastern Time and 7PM Pacific Time.  Though states are currently firmly in control of election procedures, with the rate of technological change, I could see both of these things happening.

As always though, I chose these things not because I like the idea myself, but because I thought it was more interesting for the story.  If you haven’t read His Robot Girlfriend, check it out.  It’s free just about anywhere you can find ebooks, and has been downloaded to date 422,860 times.