I'm with the crowd on this story; very meh. I will add that I have no problem with the itty, bitty scale of the plot; in fact, that was probably it's only selling point to me. I actually find that one of the more boring tropes that both sci-fi and fantasy can fall into is the "world is in danger, and only one person, our grand and wonderful hero, can fix it with nothing but a little luck and a lot of gumption." It's refreshing to see a story-line where the characters just do what they can to get by and live their lives.
Now, as much as I love small scope stories, this one, in my opinion, was not a good example of that ideal. I felt like, since the story was so small, the author could have expanded on the world, or at the very least, the characters, but it failed in both regards. I'm still actually not sure what being balloted even entails, except the whole mandated dying thing, and since that was the major plot device of the story, I was let down.
The narration throughout the story was pretty heavy handed and unappealing as well. I hated the intro; I'd much rather have just been plopped into the story and had it grown naturally, instead of being forcefed to me.
Not a win.