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The fragile edifice of the caucuses, which demoralized Democrats in search of a strong nominee to take on President Trump,
初選這座搖搖欲墜的大廈，正是這座大廈瓦解了尋求強有力的候選人接替特朗普總統的民主黨的士氣，
crumbled under the weight of technology flops, lapses in planning, failed oversight by party officials,
因為承受不了技術失敗，規劃疏忽，民主黨官員監管不力，
poor training, and a breakdown in communication between paid party leaders and volunteers out in the field,
訓練操作欠缺，加之有償工作的黨領導與負責實際操作的無償工作的志愿者——
who had devoted themselves for months to the nation’s first nominating contest.
他們為了這個國家的初選競爭已經嘔心瀝血數月之久——之間溝通中斷等各種問題的重壓才出現了崩潰。
The wider scope of the malfunctions came to light partly because of a new set of reporting requirements,
這些故障之所以能曝光，一定程度上是因為該州推出了一套新的上報規定，
mandated by the Democratic National Committee after allies of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont
規定由民主黨全國委員會授權，因佛蒙特州參議員伯尼·桑德斯在2016年愛荷華州的初選中惜敗希拉里·克林頓后，
pushed the national party to demand more transparency following his narrow loss to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Iowa caucuses.
桑德斯的盟友便催促該黨委員會提高選舉透明度。
The widespread lack of faith in the Iowa results has shaken many Americans’ confidence in their electoral system.
民眾普遍對愛荷華州的投票結果失去了信心，進一步又動搖了不少人對美國選舉制度的信心。
Mr. Trump has reveled in the meltdown.
特朗普卻對這場危機感到頗為得意。
Democrats have proposed abolishing caucuses and ending Iowa’s time at the front of the presidential nominating calendar.
民主黨人提議取消投票小組，結束愛荷華州在總統提名日程表上的優先地位。
Even as party officials scramble to contain the fallout, the full extent of the problems in Iowa is still not known.
盡管民主黨官員正在竭力亡羊補牢，愛荷華州此次選舉事故的整個影響范圍目前仍然無法確定。
An analysis by The New York Times revealed inconsistencies in the reported data for at least one in six of the state’s precincts.
《紐約時報》的一項分析顯示，該州各選區上報的數據中有至少1/6存在不一致之處。
Those errors occurred at every stage of the tabulation process:
且這些錯誤出現在了統計的每個環節：
in recording votes, in calculating and awarding delegates,
記錄投票環節，計算并獎勵代表環節
and in entering the data into the state party’s database.
和將數據輸入該州民主黨數據庫的環節。
Hundreds of state delegate equivalents, the metric the party uses to determine delegates for the national convention,
這樣一來，這些選區的數百張州代表等價票，即用來決定此次全國選舉大會選票的度量，
were at stake in these precincts.
都已不再安全。
The Iowa Democratic Party released a list of 92 precincts on Sunday
周日，愛荷華州民主黨公布了由92個選區構成的一張選區名單，據說，
that it said were flagged as problematic by three presidential candidates —
這些選區都被桑德斯、印第安納州南本德市前市長皮特·巴蒂吉格
Mr. Sanders; Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind.; and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
和馬薩諸塞州參議員伊麗莎白·沃倫三名總統候選人標記成了存疑選區。
That figure is far fewer than the number with inconsistencies captured in the Times review.
然而，這一數字遠遠低于《紐約時報》評論文章提到的存在不一致的投票數據。
The Associated Press said it was unable to declare a caucus winner.
美聯社表示無法決定此次初選的勝出者。
Sean Bagniewski, the Democratic chairman of Polk County, which includes Des Moines,
得梅因市所在的波爾克郡的民主黨主席肖恩·巴格涅夫斯基
blamed state officials for neglecting the hard work of overseeing the caucuses.
指責該州官員忽視了監管初選投票這一艱巨任務。
“It’s very easy to slip into the celebrity of the caucuses,” Mr. Bagniewski said.
“他們很容易陷入投票小組帶來的名譽之中，”巴格涅夫斯基稱。
State party leaders, he said, were distracted by offers to appear on cable TV,
他表示，州的黨領導被有線電視的露面邀請，
hobnob with national Democratic leaders and meet presidential candidates,
與國家層面的黨領導人交談以及認識總統候選人等榮譽分散了注意力，
and did not take their day-to-day duties “seriously from the get-go.’’
故“從一開始就沒有認真對待”自己的日常工作職責。
In the aftermath of the disaster, state and national party leaders are pointing fingers at one another.
災難發生后，州級黨領導和國家級黨領導便開始互相推諉。
On Sunday, Mr. Price, the state party chairman, said he was proud of the volunteers who put on the caucuses
周日，州黨委主席普萊斯表示，他為成就了此次大選的志愿者們感到自豪，
and that the state party worked with the national committee for months to prepare for them.
也為該州民主黨人，他們為準備大選已經與該黨的全國委員會努力了數月之久，感到自豪。
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