美国国家公共电台 NPR--The midterm elections need workers. Teens, veterans and lawyers are stepping up

The midterm elections need workers. Teens, veterans and lawyers are stepping up

Transcript²

Help is wanted at many voting sites around the U.S. as the general election season gets underway this month.

In some communities, however, the ongoing³ COVID pandemic and current political climate are not making it easy to find paid and volunteer poll workers, forcing election officials to count on creative ways to staff up for democracy.

For the 2020 elections, some longtime poll workers dropped out of the ranks because they needed to quarantine or faced higher COVID risks related to their age, according to a report by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Special campaigns urging voters to serve at polls that year helped many officials find workers who stepped up.

This year, high school students, military veterans and lawyers are among the potential applicant⁴ pools some local and national recruiting efforts are targeting to make sure there's enough staff to check in voters, issue ballots⁵ and process votes.

But making a call to serve can be tricky⁶ in 2022 with election officials and workers in many parts of the U.S. facing an unprecedented⁷ level of scrutiny⁸ — along with harassment⁹ — driven by election deniers.

"This is an unfortunate factor," said New Jersey¹⁰ Secretary of State Tahesha Way, president of the National Association of Secretaries of State. "After 2020, we are now seeing an increased level of threats towards election officials and workers, which, of course, causes concern and hesitation¹¹ for those who may want to serve."

For Anil Nathan, though, it's a source of motivation.

The former U.S. Air Force captain co-founded the nonprofit organization We the Veterans, which has started a new project called Vet¹ the Vote to encourage former service members to work at polling sites.

"I think a lot of veterans and military family members would feel the same way about helping¹² to continue to protect and serve the institutions and the process that we wore a uniform to support in our previous lives," Nathan said.

The American Bar Association is also trying to tap into its professional networks by bringing back the Poll Worker, Esq. initiative it used to promote poll working among lawyers and law students for the 2020 elections.

In the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Maryland's Montgomery County Board of Elections has been focused on younger demographic groups. Local teenagers ages 16 and up can serve as poll workers, and kids as young as sixth graders can volunteer as aides to poll workers the night before and on Election Day, when the county's public schools are not in session.

The student aides are part of Future Vote, a program that Gilberto Zelaya, the community engagement and public relations officer for the county's board of elections, started in 2004 in part to help out the workers stationed at polling places.

"They really like the fact that there's this younger generation handing out 'I voted' stickers, making sure that the signs are posted and that the tables are lined up," Zelaya said.

Sometimes, aides get on the floor of polling places with blue painter's tape to lay out arrows pointing voters toward the right direction.

"Our poll workers, especially our older poll workers, they prefer that the students do that as opposed to them because I'm 50 and my knees are starting to crack," Zelaya added.

Sixteen-year-old Danny Dominguez, though, had something else in mind when applying to be an election worker — a more exciting way to rack up community service hours for a graduation requirement in Maryland.

"I've always been interested in how the election process works. And so for the 25 hours, I get to see how people come in, sign up for the elections and vote," said Dominguez, who recently stopped by a recruiting table at a back-to-school fair held inside a mall parking garage.

At the same event, Adaobi Oniwinde filled out an application herself and guided one of her sons toward one as well.

"Honey, I really want you to do this. This is the most important thing," Oniwinde said, eying 16-year-old Layi with a clipboard in hand.

This year's midterms will be the first U.S. general election Oniwinde's children will experience while in the country, after years of living abroad.

"The beauty about the system here is the fact that you really can get involved at any level," Oniwinde said. "People are going out with their kids. I love the way the system here allows everybody to be involved."

1 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

2 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。

3 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

4 applicant   

n.申请人，求职者，请求者

参考例句：

• He was the hundredth applicant for the job. 他是第100个申请这项工作的人。
• In my estimation, the applicant is well qualified for this job. 据我看, 这位应征者完全具备这项工作的条件。

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 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

7 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

8 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

9 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

10 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

11 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。