美国国家公共电台 NPR Early Voting Changes In North Carolina Spark Bipartisan Controversy

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

This fall's election comes in several parts. Before the fight to win votes, there is a fight over who is allowed to vote. In Georgia, the Republican candidate for governor also heads the office that has been purging¹ voter rolls. And then there's the fight over how people may vote.

Early voting starts today in North Carolina. It is so popular that more than half of North Carolina votes were cast early in 2016. For 2018, lawmakers altered the rules in ways that could lower turnout. Here's Alexandra Olgin of member station WFAE.

ALEXANDRA OLGIN, BYLINE²: To prepare for early voting, elections director Adam Ragan in Gaston County, just west of Charlotte, is testing voting machines by running sample ballots³ through them.

(SOUNDBITE OF VOTING MACHINE BEEPING)

OLGIN: These machines were meant to be in five early voting locations throughout the county, but the new law requires all sites within a county to be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the week. And as a result, Ragan can only open three sites this election.

ADAM RAGAN: Early voting is very popular in Gaston County, and I would have loved to have more early voting locations. It came down to having more locations, you know, helping⁴ more voters versus⁵ our fiduciary⁶ responsibilities to the county.

OLGIN: Some Democratic lawmakers see this as another attack on voting rights in a state where voter ID, redistricting and early voting rules have all been struck down by the courts at various points in the last few years. During a June debate about early voting, Democratic State Representative Amos Quick said the requirement that if one site is open on the weekend, the rest also have to be, could discourage counties from having any weekend hours.

AMOS QUICK: Weekend early voting has been preferred and has been preferred by certain populations, and certain populations whose right to vote has not only been highlighted but has been protected in a recent court decision.

OLGIN: He's referring to black voters. An appeals court ruled a 2013 law, that among other things, cut early voting by a week, targeted African-Americans with, quote, "surgical⁷ precision." But Republicans who champion this law argue they're only trying to minimize confusion. Here's State Representative David Lewis, also during the June debate.

DAVID LEWIS: What we set out with the intention to do is to be able to make it more reliable and dependable, that the voters would know that the early voting site or sites in their county was open from a set time in the morning to a set time in the evening.

OLGIN: The law has some bipartisan opposition⁸. Ron Wyatt is the Republican party chair of Iredell County, about 50 miles north of Charlotte. The county has had to cut its early voting sites in half.

RON WYATT: Frustrated⁹ is the word that I would use.

OLGIN: And he says even though this may not seem like an unfunded mandate¹⁰...

WYATT: That's exactly what it translates to being at the end of the day.

OLGIN: Rural counties with smaller election budgets, like Iredell, are disproportionately affected¹¹ by this change. While individual locations may be open longer, there will be 17 percent fewer sites this election. MIT political scientist Charles Stewart III says that for voters, convenience trumps¹² hours.

CHARLES STEWART III: And there's a lot of research that's been done that suggests that whenever you move a polling place further away from a voter, they're less likely to vote there.

OLGIN: Stewart says the rule change could simply shift turnout to Election Day, which could mean longer lines at the polls. In a state where voting rights have become such a political hot potato, elections officials say they just go with the flow. Becky Galliher is the elections director in Iredell County.

BECKY GALLIHER: Due to court cases, legislation - all of that kind of thing factors in. And it just seems like we always have something each election that takes us in a different direction.

OLGIN: The question remains¹³, will voters adapt as easily? For NPR News, I'm Alex Olgin.

(SOUNDBITE OF ODDISEE'S "NO SUGAR NO CREAM")

1 purging   

清洗； 清除； 净化； 洗炉

参考例句：

• You learned the dry-mouthed, fear-purged, purging ecstasy of battle. 你体会到战斗中那种使人嘴巴发干的，战胜了恐惧并排除其他杂念的狂喜。
• Purging databases, configuring, and making other exceptional requests might fall into this category. 比如清空数据库、配置，以及其他特别的请求等都属于这个类别。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 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。

3 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》

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

6 fiduciary   

adj.受托的，信托的

参考例句：

• A company director owes a fiduciary duty to the company.公司董事应对公司负责受托人责任。
• He was acting in a fiduciary capacity.他以受托人身份行为。

7 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

9 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 trumps   

abbr.trumpets 喇叭；小号；喇叭形状的东西；喇叭筒v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去式 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造

参考例句：

• On the day of the match the team turned up trumps. 比赛那天该队出乎意料地获得胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Every time John is late getting home he trumps up some new excuse. 每次约翰晚回家都会编造个新借口。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。