VOA慢速英语2020--宾夕法尼亚州成为选举安全的战场

Pennsylvania Becomes a Battleground over Election Security

Throughout the United States, people are concerned about voting and ballot¹ counting in the presidential election next month. But it is hard to top the levels of concern in the eastern state of Pennsylvania.

The city of Philadelphia is home to 20 percent of all Pennsylvania voters likely to support Democratic Party candidates. U.S. President Donald Trump³ has described Philadelphia as a place "where bad things happen." Trump's political campaign has taken election officials in the city to court. They were forced to explain security measures after election equipment disappeared from a building where it was stored.

There is an investigation⁴ into military ballots⁵ that were mistakenly thrown away in one Pennsylvania county. In Harrisburg, the state capital, lawmakers are fighting over the way to count the large number of mailed-in ballots.

Pennsylvania is trying to hold the election in an environment where Republicans and Democrats⁶ believe the other side wants to "steal" the election.

State and local election officials say they are doing all they can to make sure the voting is fair. They recall the counting of ballots in Florida 20 years ago, when the presidential election was decided⁷ in the U.S. Supreme⁸ Court.

"For years, we have trusted our election officials to be...nonpartisan. Why should we suddenly not trust them?" said Eileen Olmsted. She is with the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, a nonpartisan group. It works to increase people's involvement in government.

Olmsted added that there is no evidence of any voter wrongdoing in the state.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was born in Pennsylvania. He has visited it more than any other state since September 1. Kantar/CMAG watches the amount of money the candidates spend on political advertising⁹. It says the political campaigns have spent more on television ads in Pennsylvania than any other state except Florida.

Pennsylvania has 20 electoral votes. Republican activists¹⁰ have made it clear that they will look at the legitimacy¹¹ of each ballot before they will admit defeat.

States are given electoral votes based on their population. A presidential candidate must win 270 electoral votes to win the election.

Suzanne Almeida is with Common Cause Pennsylvania, another nonpartisan group. She says, "we are seeing the kind of incidents that are likely to happen in every election be "blown up to mean there is something...wrong with" the state's election administration.

"There are any number of reasons why that's not true," she added.

The biggest difficulty may be verifying and counting the large number of mail-in ballots. Election officials expect more than 3 million state residents will vote by mail because of fear of the coronavirus. Four years ago, only 300,000 people voted by mail.

In Pennsylvania, election officials are not permitted to start counting the votes until election day. Attempts to change that law have been blocked by the Republican-controlled state legislature. So, the vote count will continue for days after the November 3rd election. It could delay a final result in the presidential election.

Yet for all the accusations¹² and investigations¹³, many Pennsylvania residents say they have not had any problems registering and voting. There is hope that all will go well on election day.

Elzena Hall changed her registration¹⁴ from independent to Democrat² and voted last week at a small election office in Philadelphia.

"It was...easy," said Hall.

Susan Stirling is a university academic adviser¹⁵. This week she decided to vote early at one of the city's election centers.

"It went really quickly and smoothly," she said.

But that may change. There are several legal cases before judges that will decide which ballots get counted.

One case is about whether to count mailed-in ballots that arrive late. Another is about efforts to limit the number of places to drop off a marked ballot. These cases can cause confusion and other problems for election officials.

"Confusion does not promote safe, accessible and secure elections," said Witold J. Walczak. He serves as legal director for the non-profit American Civil Liberties Union.

Republicans and the Trump campaign say they are only trying to protect the fairness of the election.

"His position was we have to have an election that is fair, and that every vote is counted and counted the right way," said Bernadette Comfort, Trump's state campaign chair.

Democrats use the same argument to criticize Republicans, who, they say, are trying to "steal" the election.

Mail-in ballots come with a "secrecy¹⁶ sleeve" that covers the outside of the ballot. Many voters throw away the sleeve, and simply put their ballot in the envelope. Republicans say these ballots should not be counted.

"That's voter suppression," said State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democrat from Philadelphia.

But election officials are pressing forward, hoping that election day and the weeks that follow are calm.

Words in This Story

county – n. an electoral and administrative¹⁷ area within in American state

non-partisan – adj. without preference for one political party or another

electoral – adj. having to do with an election

legitimacy – adj. legally correct and true in all ways

verify – v. to check the truthfulness¹⁸ of something

academic – adj. pertaining¹⁹ to scholarly study

accessible – adj. able to get or to be given something

sleeve – n. the arm of a shirt or a protective cover

envelope – n. the paper holder used to mail a letter

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 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 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。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 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》

6 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

9 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

10 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

12 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

13 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

14 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？

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 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

17 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

18 truthfulness   

n. 符合实际

参考例句：

• Among her many virtues are loyalty, courage, and truthfulness. 她有许多的美德，如忠诚、勇敢和诚实。
• I fired a hundred questions concerning the truthfulness of his statement. 我对他发言的真实性提出一连串质问。

19 pertaining   

与…有关系的，附属…的，为…固有的(to)

参考例句：

• Living conditions are vastly different from those pertaining in their country of origin. 生活条件与他们祖国大不相同。
• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school. 视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。