美国国家公共电台 NPR Should Polling Places Remain Politics-Free? Justices Incredulous At Both Sides

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Every state has a law mandating¹ these buffer² zones outside polling places where there can't be any campaigning at all, and these are laws the Supreme³ Court has long upheld. And today, the court is tackling similar, maybe even stricter laws that bar political apparel inside polling places. Here's NPR's Nina Totenberg.

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE⁴: Until the early 1900s, election days looked nothing like they do now. There were no quiet lines of people waiting to vote in curtained-off booths. Instead, election days were raucous⁵, confusing, even violent affairs. Voters then, as now, often were split into battling ethnic⁶ and ideological⁷ tribes. Except that back then, the battles outside and inside polling places were often physical. Coats were torn from people's backs, ballots⁹ snatched from their hands. Voters were threatened. And in factory towns, managers often stood at the polling place door to make sure that employees voted the, quote, "right way."

In the late 1800s, states began enacting¹⁰ laws to protect voters from harassment¹¹ and intimidation¹². Soon, all 50 states had laws that banned electioneering outside polling places and usually even stricter laws inside polling places. In 1992, the Supreme Court upheld a 100-foot politics-free buffer zone outside of polling places. Today's case is about what goes on inside polling places, specifically whether states like Minnesota may bar voters from wearing apparel or buttons that bear a political message.

Under enforcement guidelines issued for Election Day, poll watchers were told to ask voters to either cover up or remove any item of clothing, badge or button that supported or opposed a candidate, ballot⁸ question or political party or group, including those like the Tea Party or moveon.org. Also banned was any item designed to influence voting, including specifically please-ID-me buttons. The buttons were distributed by, among others, the Minnesota Voters Alliance, which acknowledged that by wearing the buttons and flashing their IDs, they were creating the false impression that Minnesota law requires a photo ID in order to vote. Enter Andrew Cilek, the executive director of the Minnesota Voters Alliance.

ANDREW CILEK: I just went in to vote in November of 2010. I was wearing a T-shirt. It's said Tea Party patriots¹³. Don't tread on me.

TOTENBERG: According to affidavits¹⁴ in the case, he was also wearing a please-ID-me button.

CILEK: I simply asked for a ballot, and then they refused me twice. The only explanation they gave me is that that shirt was political.

TOTENBERG: The third time, he came back with his lawyer, and he was allowed to vote still wearing his T-shirt and button. But because he could have been fined, Cilek and the Minnesota Voters Alliance sued, claiming that his constitutional free speech rights had been violated.

CILEK: I think the fundamental principle is that I had a right to wear that T-shirt.

TOTENBERG: Cilek's lawyer, Wen Fa, argues that the Minnesota law unconstitutionally sweeps too much speech into a ban on political apparel inside polling places.

WEN FA: In addition to just banning campaign-related speech like vote for Bush or vote for Gore¹⁵, it bans passive speech. For example, the government itself conceded that this ban would also apply to people wearing shirts featuring the logo of the AFL-CIO or the Chamber¹⁶ of Commerce.

TOTENBERG: Yes, says Daniel Rogan, who's defending the apparel ban - he did make that concession¹⁷, but only if the ballot included a measure that directly involved either the union or the chamber. There's nothing nefarious¹⁸ about the apparel ban, says Ginny Gelms, the elections manager for Minneapolis. Most people who are wearing a T-shirt or button are simply unaware¹⁹ of the rule, and when asked to cover it up with a jacket or take it off, they quickly comply.

GINNY GELMS: And usually, you know, it's resolved without any further incident.

TOTENBERG: Cilek's refusal to do that, she says, was viewed as confusing to voters, disruptive and designed to draw election judges into a dispute. Election officials worried, for instance, that people in the line would leave without voting if they thought erroneously that they needed a photo ID to vote and hadn't brought one with them. Indeed, she says, one head election judge told her he was not sure he would serve again if the ban is struck down because he wouldn't be able to protect the judges he supervises from getting drawn²⁰ into political battles. After all, Gelms contends, that's not what polling places are for.

GELMS: All those restrictions²¹ are there to help the election judges manage a calm and efficient process so that everybody who has the right to vote can get in, exercise that right and move on with their day.

TOTENBERG: In the Supreme Court today, lawyer Rogan, defending the ban, will tell the justices that a polling place like a courtroom or a military base is not a public forum²² where people can say anything they want. It is a government-run facility with a specific function.

DANIEL ROGAN: The interior of a polling place is designed for one purpose. It's designed to provide citizens a place to make their electoral choices and to ensure that those choices are accurately²³ and reliably tallied²⁴ by elections officials.

TOTENBERG: Rogan fears that if the Supreme Court were to invalidate the Minnesota ban on political apparel inside polling places, the next step would be to revisit the Supreme Court decision on electioneering outside the polling place. Indeed, the lawyer for Mr. Cilek refuses to rule that out. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

[POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: In the audio of this story, as well as in a previous version of the Web story, we say 50 states had laws on intimidation and harassment at the polls around the turn of the 20th century. There were not 50 states at the time. In addition, a previous version of this story misspelled Andrew Cilek's last name as Celik.]

1 mandating   

托管（mandate的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Current requirements mandating that committees keep minutes are too general. 目前对委员会要保持详细记录的指令性要求，还是太过一般化了。
• Mandating that workers who quit without permission forfeit a month's wages. 规定工人私自离岗将受到罚没一个月工资的处罚。

2 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。

3 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 raucous   

adj.(声音)沙哑的，粗糙的

参考例句：

• I heard sounds of raucous laughter upstairs.我听见楼上传来沙哑的笑声。
• They heard a bottle being smashed,then more raucous laughter.他们听见酒瓶摔碎的声音，然后是一阵更喧闹的笑声。

6 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

7 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

8 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。

9 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》

10 enacting   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Generally these statutes apply only to wastes from reactors outside the enacting state. 总之，这些法令只适宜用在对付那些来自外州的核废料。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• In addition, the complexion of enacting standards for live working is described. 另外，介绍了带电作业标准的制订情况。

11 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。

12 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

13 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

14 affidavits   

n.宣誓书，（经陈述者宣誓在法律上可采作证据的）书面陈述( affidavit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The woman offered written affidavits proving that she was the widow of Pancho Villa. 这女人提供书面证书，证明自己是庞科·比亚的遗孀。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The appeal was adjourned for affidavits to be obtained. 为获得宣誓证明书，上诉被推迟。 来自口语例句

15 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

16 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

17 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。

18 nefarious   

adj.恶毒的，极坏的

参考例句：

• My father believes you all have a nefarious purpose here.我父亲认为你们都有邪恶的目的。
• He was universally feared because of his many nefarious deeds.因为他干了许多罪恶的勾当，所以人人都惧怕他。

19 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

20 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

21 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

22 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

23 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

24 tallied   

v.计算，清点( tally的过去式和过去分词 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• The girl tallied them with her eyes for a moment. 新娘用目光把这些化妆品清点了一下。 来自教父部分
• His account of the accident tallied with hers. 他对事故的陈述和她的相吻合。 来自辞典例句