What is “the ballot”?

"the bane of the internet" is written in first-person subjective point of view, so the narrator a) tells the story as it is happening b)tells the story as it is happened in the past c)is a minor character who tells the story as it is happening d)none of the above

Messalla frowns at the wide circular cover, for a moment returning to his own fussy world.

What is the central idea in this advice from branch rickey to jackie robinson?