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The race between George W. Bush and Al Gore, ultimately decided by the Supreme Court,
喬治·W·布什和戈爾的競選之爭，最終的裁決權在最高法院手里，
exposed the fragility of a system that Americans had previously taken for granted.
就已經暴露了從前被美國人視為理所當然的制度何等脆弱。
Technical problems with decrepit machines had caused some votes to be counted more than once or not at all.
破舊的機器造成的技術問題讓部分選票不是被重復統計了，就是根本沒被統計上。
A badly designed ballot confused thousands of people.
設計糟糕的選票系統迷惑了無數人。
And a poorly executed purge of registration rolls led to eligible voters being turned away at the polls.
落實清除選舉程序時執行不力導致原本合格的選民被排斥在了選舉之外。
"What we learned in that was how confusing the entire process was,"
“從這一問題上，我們看出了我們的整個選舉程序是多么混亂，”
said Adam Goodman, a Republican consultant who advised Florida's secretary of state at the time, Katherine Harris, during the recount.
共和黨顧問，曾在佛羅里達州州務卿凱瑟琳·哈里斯重新統計選票時為她出謀劃策的亞當·古德曼說。
"That was something the public back then didn't understand. It still doesn't understand."
“民眾當時并不明白這一點，他們現在也沒明白過來?！?/div>
Fallout from the recount contributed to the passage of the federal Help America Vote Act,
重新統計選票也從側面促成了聯邦《幫助美國投票法》的通過，
which allocated billions of dollars for states to improve technology, ensure voter access and secure systems against fraud.
各州因此拿到了數十億美元的撥款改進技術，確保選舉通道順暢，同時保護系統免受欺詐的干擾。
In Florida, legislators rewrote state laws, switched to paper ballots and optical scanners (no more butterfly ballots or hanging chads),
佛羅里達州的議員重修了州法律，投票改用紙質選票和光學掃描儀（從此再也不會出現所謂的“蝴蝶選票”或者“孔屑廢票”了）
and mandated automatic recounts for races with margins of half a percentage point.
還對用誤差范圍為0.5%的機器重新統計選票做出了硬性要求。
Charles Stewart III, a leading expert on election administration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
麻省理工選舉管理的頭號專家查爾斯·斯圖爾特三世表示，
said complaints about this month's elections in some parts of the country should not be seen as evidence of a failing system, or lack of progress since 2000.
民眾對本月部分地區的選舉的不滿，不足以被視為選舉系統不合格或者自系統2000年來一直缺乏進展的證據。
"Elections are incredibly complicated," Mr. Stewart said, "and officials are legally required to take time beyond Election Day to count votes."
“選舉是非常復雜的，”斯圖爾特說，“法律也要求相關工作人員加班加點來計票。”
"Just the fact that we have a recount in Florida is leading people to say, ‘Ah, here we go again,'" he said.
“佛羅里達州重新計票都會致使有人說，'啊，又來了，'”他說。
"In fact, it's just a close election."
“事實上，這只不過是一次勢均力敵的選舉?！?/p>
Though it wasn't a 2000 redux, the 2018 midterms exposed persistent problems
盡管2018年的中期選舉并沒有重演2000年選舉的悲劇，但還是暴露了一些持續存在的問題，
and the haphazard way the voting process was administered across the country.
也暴露了全國各地管理投票流程的方式十分混亂的問題。
In Arkansas, three-member boards handle elections at the county level, while in Connecticut all 169 towns and cities use their own registrars.
比如，阿肯色州只有一個三人規模的委員會處理縣級選舉事務，康涅狄格州的169個城鎮用的又都是各自的書記官。
The inherently political nature of running elections can call into question some officials' decision-making.
管理選舉這項工作固有的政治屬性也會讓一些官員的決策受到質疑。
"In New York, party leaders fill county election boards in what critics say is little more than a patronage system.
“紐約的黨領導人給縣選舉委員會安排的人選就被批判者們說和裙帶體系沒什么兩樣。
They are not chosen for their ability to manage or familiarity with election procedures,"
那些人能當選既不是因為他們出色的管理能力，也不是因為他們熟悉選舉流程，”
said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause in New York City.
紐約“共同目標”組織的執行董事蘇珊勒納說。
"They are chosen for their party loyalty and to provide jobs to the party faithful."
“他們能當選是因為他們對黨忠誠，是為了給那些忠誠于黨的人提供工作機會?！?/div>
Florida still does not have a standardized, statewide ballot format,
佛羅里達州至今也沒有一個能在整個州范圍內使用的標準化的選票格式，
and a poorly designed ballot in the heavily Democratic Broward County this month
本月嚴重偏向民主黨的布勞沃德郡糟糕的選票設計
is believed to have led to a significant under-vote for Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, who was narrowly behind Mr. Scott.
也被認為是導致原本只稍稍落后斯科特的參議院候選人比爾·納爾遜，民主黨人，最終選票遠遠不夠的原因。
Some 30,000 people in Broward voted for governor but inexplicably bypassed the Senate race,
布勞沃德約有3萬人投票支持州長，但都莫名其妙地繞過了參議院競選的投票，
which was tucked away in the lower left corner of the ballot, below the instructions and far from the rest of the contests.
因為那部分被藏在了選票的左下角，還在投票說明的下方，距離其他內容也較遠。
Palm Beach County voters were given ballots that required them to draw a line to complete an arrow pointing to their preferred candidates,
棕櫚灘縣的選民拿到的選票要求他們畫一條線讓那個指向他們支持的候選人的箭頭變成一個完整的箭頭，
a potentially confusing alternative to the more common methods of filling in a bubble or making a check mark.
比起更加常見的涂圓圈或者打勾，這種方式容易讓人產生混淆。
Meanwhile, Mr. Nelson has brought a lawsuit in federal court over how Florida counties validate signatures on mail-in and provisional ballots,
與此同時，納爾遜向聯邦法院提起了訴訟，控告佛羅里達各縣驗證郵寄選票和臨時選票上的簽名，
a process his campaign claims is unconstitutional because of inconsistent criteria applied by elections staff;
他的競選團隊稱這一做法有違憲法，因為選舉工作人員采用的標準不統一；
a judge gave voters till Saturday to validate their mismatched signatures .
某法官已經在周六前讓選民去證實不匹配的簽名了。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
| 重點單詞 | 查看全部解釋 | |||
| familiarity | [fə.mili'æriti] |
想一想再看 n. 親密，熟悉，精通，不拘禮節 |
聯想記憶 | |
| administration | [əd.mini'streiʃən] |
想一想再看 n. 行政，管理，行政部門 |
聯想記憶 | |
| patronage | ['pætrənidʒ] |
想一想再看 n. 贊助，光顧，任免權 |
聯想記憶 | |
| voting | ['vəutiŋ] |
想一想再看 n. 投票 動詞vote的現在分詞形式 |
聯想記憶 | |
| legitimacy | [li'dʒitiməsi] |
想一想再看 n. 合法，適法，正當 |
||
| election | [i'lekʃən] |
想一想再看 n. 選舉 |
聯想記憶 | |
| fraud | [frɔ:d] |
想一想再看 n. 騙子，欺騙，詐欺 |
聯想記憶 | |
| handle | ['hændl] |
想一想再看 n. 柄，把手 |
聯想記憶 | |
| director | [di'rektə, dai'rektə] |
想一想再看 n. 董事，經理，主管，指導者，導演 |
||
| previously | ['pri:vju:sli] |
想一想再看 adv. 先前，在此之前 |
