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Improved technology and equipment, a major part of the response to the 2000 election, have in some instances contributed to new worries.
技術和設備的改善，對2000年選舉的主要回應，有時反倒造成了新的擔憂。
Some 30 states use so-called direct-recording devices, usually with electronic screens,
大約30個州都在選舉中用了所謂的直接記錄設備，通常帶有電子屏幕，
that were initially seen as an antidote to hanging chads and other foibles resulting from archaic punch-card devices.
這些設備最初被視為能夠解決打卡設備太過陳舊造成的“孔屑廢票”等問題的一劑良藥。
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，有一些設備沒有留下供審計用的紙質憑證，致使重新計票環節變得更為復雜了，進而引發了人們對這些設備的可靠性的抱怨。
Some voters in Texas reported being stymied when trying to cast a party-line vote on electronic screens,
德州有選民指出，他們在電子屏幕上進行黨派投票時遇到了困難，
saying the machines appeared to reverse or erase their choices;
聲稱那些機器好像將他們的選擇理解反了，或者直接清除了他們的投票；
state officials said that the voters had mistakenly touched a button before confirming their selection and that the machines operated correctly.
該州的官員們則說，是選民們在確認投票之前錯按了一個按鈕，他們的機器是正常運行的。
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.
越來越多的州轉向使用帶有紙質記錄或光學掃描儀的機器了，這些機器能夠讀取選民用標記填寫的紙質選票。
But voting machines are not expected to last more than 10 to 15 years.
然而，投票機的使用年限不宜超過10至15年。
Aside from software problems in some states,
部分州的選舉機器存在軟件問題之外，
aging machines at multiple polling places in New York City broke down, forcing voters to deposit ballots in boxes to be scanned later.
紐約市多個投票站使用的老化機器也都發生了故障，選民們便不得不將選票投入箱子等待后期掃描。
Surveying the long Election Day lines in Cobb County, Ga.,
看到佐治亞州科布縣選舉日當日排起的條條長龍后，
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.
選舉委員會主任簡寧·伊威勒說，本屆中期選舉的投票率要創歷史新高有一定的困難，首先是投票異常復雜，其次是投票機短缺。
"It's a perfect storm," she said.
“這是一場完美的風暴，”她說。
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·懷特從亞特蘭大搬到佐治亞州的鮑德溫縣鄉下時，他也進行了選民登記并拿到了一張證明其投票資格的卡片。
But when he went to the polls this month, he was turned away because his driver's license still bore an Atlanta address.
但本月去投票時他被拒之門外了，因為他的駕照仍然是亞特蘭大簽發的。
Aided by a Democratic Party worker, Mr. White went to the county courthouse, where he was told again that he was ineligible to vote.
在民主黨工作人員的幫助下，懷特先生去了縣法院，但再次被告知他沒有資格投票。
Eventually, he won a judge's approval to cast a provisional ballot.
最終，他得到了某法官的批準，可以投臨時票。
"Whether it got counted or not, I really don't know," he said.
“我的票有沒有作數，我是真的不知道，”他說。
A central aim of the Help America Vote Act was to make it easier for people to cast a ballot on Election Day.
《幫助美國投票法》的一個核心目標就是讓大家能夠在選舉日更輕松地投票。
But embedded in the law were requirements for voter identification and maintaining registration rolls,
然而，該法案也對選民身份認證和維持選民登記名單做了隱性要求，
objectives that Democrats say Republicans have twisted for partisan ends, effectively disenfranchising certain groups that lean left.
一些民主黨人稱該法案的目標因為黨派利益被共和黨人扭曲了，該法案實際上是剝奪了某些左傾團體的權利。
Georgia and 16 other states, most of them in the South, demand photo identification that low-income people and minorities disproportionately lack,
比如，格魯吉亞和其他16個州，其中大多數都在南方，需要照片識別，而低收入人群和少數民族地區嚴重缺乏這一技術，
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——甚至還有簽字的字跡不匹配——相關信息的相互矛盾也可能導致選民失去投票權。
An analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found the laws inconsistently applied,
《亞特蘭大憲法報》的一項分析發現，法律沒有被統一執行，
with absentee ballot rejections in one county, Gwinnett, accounting for 37 percent of the total for the entire state in this month's election.
格威納特縣作廢的缺席票就占到了該縣所在的佐治亞州本月投票總數的37%。
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