美国国家公共电台 NPR Several States, Some Employers Help Workers Make Time To Vote

Several States, Some Employers Help Workers Make Time To Vote

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There are predictions that slightly more than half of eligible² Americans will cast a vote in next Tuesday's election. As for the nearly half who might not - well, many people say they don't have the time to stand in line or they're worried about being late for work. About half of states require employers to offer some form of paid leave to vote. Other states tell employers they've got to be flexible. Some have no law at all.

As NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports, finding time to vote can be a challenge.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE³: On Tuesdays, Keyarra Forbes has both classes and a shift working at an optometrist's office, which complicates⁴ her Election Day.

KEYARRA FORBES: I actually tried to get the day off because I wanted to volunteer at the polls. But on that day, we're short-staffed, so I couldn't get the day off at all.

NOGUCHI: Connecticut, where Forbes lives, has no law governing time off to vote, so she's getting up extra early.

FORBES: So I'm going to have to vote, probably, as soon as the polls open because there's usually a very, very long line.

NOGUCHI: During the primaries, she waited in line with a friend who left before voting to make it to work on time. Forbes says if it comes to that, she won't be making that trade-off.

FORBES: Just giving up your vote would be horrible. So I would definitely show up late for work.

NOGUCHI: But why Tuesday? Why must we juggle⁵ voting with commuting⁶, meetings, school drop-offs and whatnot?

BARBARA PERRY: Tuesday does seem like the most inconvenient⁷ time for modern Americans.

NOGUCHI: Barbara Perry is a fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller⁸ Center, on presidential scholarship. She says the 1845 law designating the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November as Election Day did so because it caused the least work interruption.

PERRY: Most people were spending Sundays in church. They were certainly laboring⁹ on Saturdays. Wednesday was market day for farmers, and we have to remember that we were, primarily, an agrarian¹⁰ society at that time.

NOGUCHI: Perry says November was chosen in part to avoid planting and harvest time. But today, November is hectic¹¹ at Phipps Conservatory¹², a botanical garden in Pittsburgh. Executive director Richard Piacentini says his 80 employees are staffing a fall show.

RICHARD PIACENTINI: And we're also getting ready for our big winter flower show, which is our biggest show of the year. So it's a really busy time for us.

NOGUCHI: And even though Pennsylvania has no laws requiring time off to vote, since 2006, Phipps has offered an hour of paid leave to vote. Piacentini says workers seem to appreciate it. Marty Guastella is vice¹³ president of human resources for the Oswald Companies, a Cleveland insurance broker¹⁴. Last year, the company started opening two hours late or giving two hours paid leave on Election Day.

MARTY GUASTELLA: Part of work-life balance is being able to get out and vote.

NOGUCHI: Guastella says the firm informed clients of the policy, which in Ohio, where paid leave is only required for salaried workers, is unusual. Accommodating the change, he says, hasn't been hard.

GUASTELLA: We don't have a situation where entire departments have no staff. But again, keep in mind that our clients - our customers know that we have this policy.

NOGUCHI: Paula Brantner is a senior adviser¹⁵ for Workplace Fairness, a legal advocacy group. She notes Oregon, Washington and Colorado already offer voting by mail.

PAULA BRANTNER: Workers have more options - early voting, relaxed absentee voting. I also see more workplace flexibility¹⁶ in general with people doing teleworking and having flexible schedules.

NOGUCHI: Some states, including New York and Colorado, will revoke¹⁷ a business's charter if it blocks employees from voting.

BRANTNER: That would be the corporate¹⁸ death penalty.

NOGUCHI: And no employer, to her knowledge, has provoked that.

Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 complicates   

使复杂化( complicate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• What complicates the issue is the burden of history. 历史的重负使问题复杂化了。
• Russia as a great and ambitious power gravely complicates the situation. 俄国作为一个强大而有野心的国家，使得局势异常复杂。

5 juggle   

v.变戏法，纂改，欺骗，同时做；n.玩杂耍，纂改，花招

参考例句：

• If you juggle with your accounts,you'll get into trouble.你要是在帐目上做手脚，你可要遇到麻烦了。
• She had to juggle her job and her children.她得同时兼顾工作和孩子。

6 commuting   

交换（的）

参考例句：

• I used the commuting time to read and answer my mail. 我利用上下班在汽车中的时间来阅读和答复给我的函电。
• Noncommuting objects are as real to the mathematicians as commuting objects. 对于数学家来说，不可交换的对象与可交换的对象是一样真实的。

7 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

8 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

9 laboring   

n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• The young man who said laboring was beneath his dignity finally put his pride in his pocket and got a job as a kitchen porter. 那个说过干活儿有失其身份的年轻人最终只能忍辱，做了厨房搬运工的工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• But this knowledge did not keep them from laboring to save him. 然而，这并不妨碍她们尽力挽救他。 来自飘（部分）

10 agrarian   

adj.土地的，农村的，农业的

参考例句：

• People are leaving an agrarian way of life to go to the city.人们正在放弃农业生活方式而转向城市。
• This was a feature of agrarian development in Britain.这是大不列颠土地所有制发展的一个特征。

11 hectic   

adj.肺病的；消耗热的；发热的；闹哄哄的

参考例句：

• I spent a very hectic Sunday.我度过了一个忙乱的星期天。
• The two days we spent there were enjoyable but hectic.我们在那里度过的两天愉快但闹哄哄的。

12 conservatory   

n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的

参考例句：

• At the conservatory,he learned how to score a musical composition.在音乐学校里，他学会了怎样谱曲。
• The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants.这个现代化温室的环境不适合培育植物。

13 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

14 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

15 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

16 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

17 revoke   

v.废除，取消，撤回

参考例句：

• The university may revoke my diploma.大学可能吊销我的毕业证书。
• The government revoked her husband's license to operate migrant labor crews.政府撤销了她丈夫管理外来打工人群的许可证。

18 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。