纽约时报 一张遍布缺陷的选举地图暴露了所有问题(4)（在线收听）

Improved technology and equipment, a major part of the response to the 2000 election, have in some instances contributed to new worries.

技术和设备的改善，对2000年选举的主要回应，有时反倒造成了新的担忧。

Some 30 states use so-called direct-recording devices, usually with electronic screens,

大约30个州都在选举中用了所谓的直接记录设备，通常带有电子屏幕，

that were initially seen as an antidote to hanging chads and other foibles resulting from archaic punch-card devices.

这些设备最初被视为能够解决打卡设备太过陈旧造成的“孔屑废票”等问题的一剂良药。

But some of them did not offer a paper audit trail, complicating the process of a recount, and there have been complaints about their reliability.

然而，有一些设备没有留下供审计用的纸质凭证，致使重新计票环节变得更为复杂了，进而引发了人们对这些设备的可靠性的抱怨。

Some voters in Texas reported being stymied when trying to cast a party-line vote on electronic screens,

德州有选民指出，他们在电子屏幕上进行党派投票时遇到了困难，

saying the machines appeared to reverse or erase their choices;

声称那些机器好像将他们的选择理解反了，或者直接清除了他们的投票；

state officials said that the voters had mistakenly touched a button before confirming their selection and that the machines operated correctly.

该州的官员们则说，是选民们在确认投票之前错按了一个按钮，他们的机器是正常运行的。

More states have been turning to machines with a paper trail or optical scanners, which read paper ballots that the voter fills in with a marker.

越来越多的州转向使用带有纸质记录或光学扫描仪的机器了，这些机器能够读取选民用标记填写的纸质选票。

But voting machines are not expected to last more than 10 to 15 years.

然而，投票机的使用年限不宜超过10至15年。

Aside from software problems in some states,

部分州的选举机器存在软件问题之外，

aging machines at multiple polling places in New York City broke down, forcing voters to deposit ballots in boxes to be scanned later.

纽约市多个投票站使用的老化机器也都发生了故障，选民们便不得不将选票投入箱子等待后期扫描。

Surveying the long Election Day lines in Cobb County, Ga.,

看到佐治亚州科布县选举日当日排起的条条长龙后，

Janine Eveler, the director of the Board of Elections, described the challenges of a record turnout for a midterm election, an unusually complicated ballot and a shortage of voting machines.

选举委员会主任简宁·伊威勒说，本届中期选举的投票率要创历史新高有一定的困难，首先是投票异常复杂，其次是投票机短缺。

"It's a perfect storm," she said.

“这是一场完美的风暴，”她说。

When James White moved from Atlanta to rural Baldwin County in Georgia, he registered to vote and was given a card certifying his eligibility.

詹姆斯·怀特从亚特兰大搬到佐治亚州的鲍德温县乡下时，他也进行了选民登记并拿到了一张证明其投票资格的卡片。

But when he went to the polls this month, he was turned away because his driver's license still bore an Atlanta address.

但本月去投票时他被拒之门外了，因为他的驾照仍然是亚特兰大签发的。

Aided by a Democratic Party worker, Mr. White went to the county courthouse, where he was told again that he was ineligible to vote.

在民主党工作人员的帮助下，怀特先生去了县法院，但再次被告知他没有资格投票。

Eventually, he won a judge's approval to cast a provisional ballot.

最终，他得到了某法官的批准，可以投临时票。

"Whether it got counted or not, I really don't know," he said.

“我的票有没有作数，我是真的不知道，”他说。

A central aim of the Help America Vote Act was to make it easier for people to cast a ballot on Election Day.

《帮助美国投票法》的一个核心目标就是让大家能够在选举日更轻松地投票。

But embedded in the law were requirements for voter identification and maintaining registration rolls,

然而，该法案也对选民身份认证和维持选民登记名单做了隐性要求，

objectives that Democrats say Republicans have twisted for partisan ends, effectively disenfranchising certain groups that lean left.

一些民主党人称该法案的目标因为党派利益被共和党人扭曲了，该法案实际上是剥夺了某些左倾团体的权利。

Georgia and 16 other states, most of them in the South, demand photo identification that low-income people and minorities disproportionately lack,

比如，格鲁吉亚和其他16个州，其中大多数都在南方，需要照片识别，而低收入人群和少数民族地区严重缺乏这一技术，

and conflicting information about addresses and dates of birth--even signature mismatches--can cost someone the ability to vote.

而地址和出生日期——甚至还有签字的字迹不匹配——相关信息的相互矛盾也可能导致选民失去投票权。

An analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found the laws inconsistently applied,

《亚特兰大宪法报》的一项分析发现，法律没有被统一执行，

with absentee ballot rejections in one county, Gwinnett, accounting for 37 percent of the total for the entire state in this month's election.

格威纳特县作废的缺席票就占到了该县所在的佐治亚州本月投票总数的37%。