美国国家公共电台 NPR--A Texas county's election administrators all resigned, leaving the state to step in

A Texas county's election administrators² all resigned, leaving the state to step in

Transcript³

In Texas, a county elections administrator¹ and her two deputies have resigned, with at least one citing threats fueled by misinformation, as former President Donald Trump⁴ and his supporters continue to spread baseless claims about the 2020 election.

"The threats against election officials and my election staff, dangerous misinformation, lack of full time personnel for the elections office, unpaid⁵ compensation, and absurd legislation have completely changed the job I initially⁶ accepted," now-former Gillespie County Elections Administrator Anissa Herrera reportedly wrote in her resignation letter, dated Aug. 2.

She added: "The life commitment I have given to this job is unsustainable."

The letter was obtained by Votebeat through a public records request.

The Texas secretary of state's office provided a few more details about the threats, which Herrera first revealed to the local Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post.

"I don't know if there's been any threat since, we didn't get a lot of specifics about the threats, only that they were a combination of social media stalking and other kinds of threats against her in her capacity as elections administrator," Sam Taylor, assistant secretary for communications at the secretary of state's office, told Texas Public Radio.

The state to send in trainers

Now, two months before early voting begins for the November general election, the county, which is west of Austin, has no elections department.

"I really don't know what they're going to do and how they're going to hold the election in November. And they're going to have to do a lot of scrambling," said Joyce LeBombard, president of the League of Women Voters of Texas.

The Texas secretary of state's office plans to send in trainers to make sure Gillespie County can still hold an election this November.

Taylor said replacements⁷ would be trained by former election admins who work with the secretary of state's office in regularly training new elections officials. In the case of Gillespie County, workers in the tax office and county clerk's office will likely take up the initial responsibilities.

"The [county] judge has told us there are still employees in the county clerk and county tax-assessor collector's office who have run elections in the past," Taylor said. "Albeit⁸ that was back in 2019 and earlier. So a lot has changed about election laws since then. So that's why our office is going to be sending our trainers, we've got about six to eight trainers on our staff. All of them are former county election officials themselves."

Under Texas law, counties appoint elections administrators through a locally created commission that includes the county judge, county clerk, tax-assessor collector and the chairs of the county political parties.

Early voting in Texas starts on Oct. 24, giving state officials a two-month window to train replacements until a new elections administrator is appointed — an appointment that may not happen until after the November election.

Gillespie County, where Trump secured 79% of the vote in 2020, has just over 20,000 registered voters.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke visited Fredericksburg, the county seat, days after the resignation as part of a statewide campaign tour.

He said the threats were an attack on American democracy and criticized some Texas voting laws that he said make it difficult to register and cast mail ballots¹⁰.

"Not only are we the toughest state in which to register to vote, in which to cast a ballot⁹, but you have election workers in Gillespie being run out of office, you have election workers and others in other counties within the state who feel under constant attack, you have now an elections law that allows partisans¹¹ to come to polling places to serve as poll watchers really with free rein¹² to intimidate¹³ voters who show up," O'Rourke said.

Texas has been an especially difficult place for election workers in recent years, according to Remi Garza, the immediate¹⁴ past president of the Texas Association of Election Administrators. He points to the state's relatively¹⁵ new expanded voting observer law.

"Before, [the law] was that they could 'observe' the activities of the polling place, and they changed that to 'see and hear' what's occurring, which makes it much more subjective¹⁶ to the individual who is watching," he said. "There's the chance they could be a little more intrusive¹⁷ to the process because they could claim they are not able to see or hear what's happening in a polling place."

Garza said the expansion of the voter observation law comes with legal protections that he said may occasionally give observers a sense of entitlement to be more engaged in the process than intended by the law. He said the role of observers is to monitor the voting process to ensure transparency and that voting laws are followed. He said observers are expected to do just that, not "coach" or "referee¹⁸" election workers.

"It has never been before"

The Democratic-led U.S. House Oversight¹⁹ Committee last week released a report detailing threats made to election officials across the country. One such instance from Texas includes threats of hanging and harm to the children of a county election official.

"In Texas, 'personal attacks on national media outlets²⁰' led to alarming threats against an election administrator, including a social media call to 'hang him when convicted for fraud and let his lifeless body hang in public until maggots drip out of his mouth' and messages threatening his children, stating, 'I think we should end your bloodline,' " the report stated.

David Becker, executive director and founder²¹ of the Center of Election Innovation & Research, said these kinds of threats were not common before Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

"Gillespie County is one of the more extreme incidents with an entire county's election staff resigning," Becker said. "But we have to understand that election workers all over the country — in red states, blue states, battleground states, non-battleground states — from elected secretaries of state down to volunteer poll workers are being harassed²² and threatened in a way that we've never seen before. It's not worse than it's been before. It has never been before."

1 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

2 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

6 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

7 replacements   

n.代替( replacement的名词复数 )；替换的人[物]；替代品；归还

参考例句：

• They infiltrated behind the lines so as to annoy the emery replacements. 他们渗透敌后以便骚扰敌军的调度。 来自辞典例句
• For oil replacements, cheap suddenly looks less of a problem. 对于石油的替代品来说，价格变得无足轻重了。 来自互联网

8 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

9 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

10 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 partisans   

游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙

参考例句：

• Every movement has its partisans. 每一运动都有热情的支持者。
• He was rescued by some Italian partisans. 他被几名意大利游击队员所救。

12 rein   

n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治

参考例句：

• The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
• He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。

13 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

14 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

15 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

16 subjective   

a.主观(上)的，个人的

参考例句：

• The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。
• A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。

17 intrusive   

adj.打搅的；侵扰的

参考例句：

• The cameras were not an intrusive presence.那些摄像机的存在并不令人反感。
• Staffs are courteous but never intrusive.员工谦恭有礼却从不让人感到唐突。

18 referee   

n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人

参考例句：

• The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
• The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。

19 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

20 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

21 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

22 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们