美国国家公共电台 NPR--How Texas officials and voting groups are trying to limit mail ballot rejections

How Texas officials and voting groups are trying to limit mail ballot¹ rejections²

Transcript³

After thousands of mail-in ballots⁴ were rejected in Texas' statewide primaries in March, election officials and voting rights groups are stepping up efforts to make sure voters don't run into the same problems with ballot rejections going forward.

Nearly 25,000 mail ballots were rejected for the March 1 primaries — a far higher rate than prior elections.

Some ballots were rejected because identifying data didn't match what was on file. But election officials and voting groups say a design issue with the envelope that Texas voters use to return their mail ballots was most responsible for the rejections.

Grace Chimene, president of the League of Women Voters of Texas, says voters missed important instructions located right under the flap of the mail ballot return envelope. That is where voters have to provide either a partial Social Security number or their driver's license⁵ number.

"Voters wouldn't see [the section] if the flap is down," she says. "It's only visible if the flap is up. And the reason behind that was to keep it secret so people couldn't get that [information] when it was going through the mail."

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The current Texas mail ballot envelope. At left, with NPR's added yellow highlight, is the section many voters missed to fill in required information. The section is hidden when the envelope flap is down. The new mail ballot envelope will have a red box around the section underneath⁶ the flap.

Ashley Lopez/NPR

Sam Taylor, assistant secretary of state for communications with the Texas secretary of state's office, says election officials are also convinced that the new voter ID field on the envelope is what led to mass rejections.

"Based on the number of people who just missed it completely, I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to think that some people thought it was just an optional section," Taylor says.

A lot of these changes were prompted by a voting law Republican state leaders enacted⁷ last year. Taylor says that among the changes, more information was required to be on the return envelope. That affected⁸ the envelope's design.

"There's more language that's required, and as a result there is more language and text competing for the same amount of real estate," he says.

How ballot design factors in

Whitney Quesenbery — the director of the Center for Civic⁹ Design, a nonprofit that focuses on using design to improve the function of democracy — says the issues over Texas' mail ballots offer a great example of why design is important.

"There are costs to this," she says. "So, we can see [that] when a vote-by-mail envelope is better designed that fewer are rejected."

Quesenbery says bad design is an issue in a number of states and with different facets¹⁰ of voting.

"Sometimes what I would think of as not great design happens not because someone is trying to trip a voter up, but because they are not a designer," she says. "They are not doing some of the things that we would see in, say, a commercial project — where you try it out. You would test it."

Chimene says the League of Women Voters of Texas has been working with the Center for Civic Design to create a pamphlet for Texas voters that breaks down everything they need to do to make sure their ballot is counted.

"And that involved simplifying the words and using images and graphics¹¹ and using bolding and other methods that they specialize in to make voter information that makes sense," Chimene says.

The plan is to get county election officials to include these pamphlets with vote-by-mail materials. Chimene says hopefully their easy-to-read guides will clear up any confusion.

Taylor says most counties stocked up on materials for both the March primaries and May's runoffs at the same time, so most voters are still using the old ballot envelopes during Tuesday's runoff elections. And only a few counties sent out their own guides to help voters fill out ballots correctly.

For November, Taylor says there will be a change: The voter ID field that so many voters missed will be highlighted by a big red box.

"We are pretty confident that that's going to address the bulk of the issues, based on what we heard from back in the March 1 primaries," he says. "Counties were telling us that they were going in and physically¹² highlighting the ID field to draw attention to it — and that seemed to help voters pay attention to it more often."

Taylor says the state is also launching TV and radio ads and is having a voter education tour aimed at letting voters know mail-in ballots are different than they were last year.

November is expected to bring in a lot of new voters, which will be yet another test for Texas' new vote-by-mail program.

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 rejections   

拒绝( rejection的名词复数 )； 摒弃； 剔除物； 排斥

参考例句：

• Most writers endure a number of rejections before being published. 大部分作家经历无数次的退稿才守得云开，作品得到发表。
• Supervise workers and monitors production quality to minimize rejections. 管理工人，监控生产质量，减少退货。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 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》

5 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

6 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

7 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

9 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

10 facets   

n.（宝石或首饰的）小平面( facet的名词复数 )；（事物的）面；方面

参考例句：

• The question had many facets. 这个问题是多方面的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A fully cut brilliant diamond has 68 facets. 经过充分切刻的光彩夺目的钻石有68个小平面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 graphics   

n.制图法，制图学；图形显示

参考例句：

• You've leveraged your graphics experience into the video area.你们把图形设计业务的经验运用到录像业务中去。
• Improved graphics took computer games into a new era.经改进的制图技术将电脑游戏带进了一个新时代。

12 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。