美国国家公共电台 NPR States Upgrade Election Equipment — Wary Of 'A Race Without A Finish Line'

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

OK, America, just to let you know, you have five months - five months - until presidential primary voting begins. That means election officials are focused now on keeping elections safe from cyberattacks. In Pennsylvania, every county is getting new paper ballot¹ machines. NPR's Pam Fessler paid a visit.

PAM FESSLER, BYLINE²: On an oppressively hot weekday night, 200 residents of Bucks³ County, north of Philadelphia, showed up at a local college to weigh in on how best to protect democracy.

DOLORES MUCCI: Nancy, you go in and vote. Go in and vote.

FESSLER: They were there to test the different voting machines the county's considering buying to replace its old equipment. It was a little like speed dating as Dolores Mucci and her friends circulated among the vendors⁵, writing down their likes and dislikes after casting some make-believe votes.

MUCCI: Yeah. Mary Bailey from "It's A Wonderful Life" and Thomas Edison.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: You like Thomas Edison.

MUCCI: And I'm putting Carl Sagan. Oh, vote for three.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: What if they vote for too many? What happens?

FESSLER: The sales representative from Dominion⁶ Voting says the touch-screen machine won't allow over voting. It's one of its features. It can also change the language of the ballot with a touch of a button.

UNIDENTIFIED SALES REPRESENTATIVE #1: Easy peasy's the name of the game.

FESSLER: He shows how the machine prints the ballot once the voter is done. It's then fed into a scanner to be counted. Voters can also do it the old-fashioned way, using a pen to fill in ovals on a preprinted ballot. Nearby, another vendor⁴, Election Systems & Software, demonstrates a third option - a big touch screen, which prints the voter's choices on a blank piece of paper, then displays it in a window.

UNIDENTIFIED SALES REPRESENTATIVE #2: If it's how you want to vote, you press another button, it tabulates⁷ it and drops it into a ballot box. So that one is one-stop shopping instead of a two-fold system.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: That eliminates a step then.

UNIDENTIFIED SALES REPRESENTATIVE #2: Exactly.

FESSLER: Eliminating steps is pretty popular here, although many security experts think anything short of a hand-marked ballot presents a risk. Still, Marian Schneider, a former Pennsylvania election official, thinks whatever counties decide, the state's in much better shape than it was in 2016 when more than 80% of its voters cast ballots⁸ on paperless machines.

MARIAN SCHNEIDER: Whatever the computer said, the computer said. You were done.

FESSLER: Now there will be a physical record that can be reviewed for accuracy. Schneider runs Verified Voting, a group that's long promoted paper ballots, which almost every U.S. voter will use next year. But she says that's not enough.

SCHNEIDER: You have to check the paper afterwards. You have to randomly⁹ sample those ballots and make sure that the results that the software reported matches what's on the paper ballots.

FESSLER: Something called risk-limiting audits¹⁰. Pennsylvania is among a dozen states now testing the idea. It's all part of a multipronged national effort to secure next year's elections. Kathy Boockvar, Pennsylvania's acting¹¹ secretary, says her state, like others, is working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and has participated in tabletop exercises to practice responding to cyberattacks. They're also upgrading their voter registration¹² database, another potential target. But Boockvar has a warning.

KATHY BOOCKVAR: You know, it's a race without a finish line, right? So the key is that we have to be building and reinforcing our walls faster than those that are trying to tear them down.

FESSLER: And like other election officials, she says that requires more resources, not only to build a wall against attacks...

BOOCKVAR: But the wall of confidence for each voter to know that their vote is secure and their vote is being counted accurately¹³.

FESSLER: Last year, Congress approved $380 million to help do that. Pennsylvania only got $14 million, a drop in the bucket. Liz Howard of the Brennan Center for Justice says her group estimates the states could easily use another $2 billion over five years, especially to secure local election offices, which tend to be more vulnerable.

LIZ HOWARD: With over 8,000 election jurisdictions¹⁴ across the country, there's some not insubstantial portion of them that do not have IT support at the local level.

FESSLER: Still, at the Bucks County demo, security was clearly a secondary concern. Resident Milo Morris says he wants machines that are easy to use.

MILO MORRIS: I don't want to see voters get bogged¹⁵ down once they get into the voting booth, you know, because all that does is discourage the practice altogether. And we need everybody to come out and vote. We want people to come out and vote.

FESSLER: Something local officials also have to consider when picking the new machines. Pam Fessler, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF STAN FOREBEE'S "THE MONSOON")

1 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。

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 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。

5 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

6 dominion   

n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图

参考例句：

• Alexander held dominion over a vast area.亚历山大曾统治过辽阔的地域。
• In the affluent society,the authorities are hardly forced to justify their dominion.在富裕社会里，当局几乎无需证明其统治之合理。

7 tabulates   

把（数字、事实）列成表( tabulate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In 2. each page demonstrated tabulates controls, and joins the number of lines different record. 每个页面中显示一个列表控件，并加入行数不同的记录。

8 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》

9 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

10 audits   

n.审计，查账( audit的名词复数 )v.审计，查账( audit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Requires that use of all bond funds is subject to independent audits. 需要使用的所有债券基金是受独立审计。 来自互联网
• Support the locations during customer-visits, audits and quality-improvement programs. 支持客户参观，稽核和提高品质等项目。 来自互联网

11 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

12 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

13 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

14 jurisdictions   

司法权( jurisdiction的名词复数 )； 裁判权； 管辖区域； 管辖范围

参考例句：

• Butler entreated him to remember the act abolishing the heritable jurisdictions. 巴特勒提醒他注意废除世袭审判权的国会法令。
• James I personally adjudicated between the two jurisdictions. 詹姆士一世亲自裁定双方纠纷。

15 bogged   

adj.陷于泥沼的v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的过去式和过去分词 )；妨碍，阻碍

参考例句：

• The professor bogged down in the middle of his speech. 教授的演讲只说了一半便讲不下去了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The tractor is bogged down in the mud. 拖拉机陷入了泥沼。 来自《简明英汉词典》