纽约时报 爱荷华州的民主党初选风波(2)（在线收听）

The fragile edifice of the caucuses, which demoralized Democrats in search of a strong nominee to take on President Trump,

初选这座摇摇欲坠的大厦，正是这座大厦瓦解了寻求强有力的候选人接替特朗普总统的民主党的士气，

crumbled under the weight of technology flops, lapses in planning, failed oversight by party officials,

因为承受不了技术失败，规划疏忽，民主党官员监管不力，

poor training, and a breakdown in communication between paid party leaders and volunteers out in the field,

训练操作欠缺，加之有偿工作的党领导与负责实际操作的无偿工作的志愿者——

who had devoted themselves for months to the nation’s first nominating contest.

他们为了这个国家的初选竞争已经呕心沥血数月之久——之间沟通中断等各种问题的重压才出现了崩溃。

The wider scope of the malfunctions came to light partly because of a new set of reporting requirements,

这些故障之所以能曝光，一定程度上是因为该州推出了一套新的上报规定，

mandated by the Democratic National Committee after allies of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont

规定由民主党全国委员会授权，因佛蒙特州参议员伯尼·桑德斯在2016年爱荷华州的初选中惜败希拉里·克林顿后，

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该党委员会提高选举透明度。

The widespread lack of faith in the Iowa results has shaken many Americans’ confidence in their electoral system.

民众普遍对爱荷华州的投票结果失去了信心，进一步又动摇了不少人对美国选举制度的信心。

Mr. Trump has reveled in the meltdown.

特朗普却对这场危机感到颇为得意。

Democrats have proposed abolishing caucuses and ending Iowa’s time at the front of the presidential nominating calendar.

民主党人提议取消投票小组，结束爱荷华州在总统提名日程表上的优先地位。

Even as party officials scramble to contain the fallout, the full extent of the problems in Iowa is still not known.

尽管民主党官员正在竭力亡羊补牢，爱荷华州此次选举事故的整个影响范围目前仍然无法确定。

An analysis by The New York Times revealed inconsistencies in the reported data for at least one in six of the state’s precincts.

《纽约时报》的一项分析显示，该州各选区上报的数据中有至少1/6存在不一致之处。

Those errors occurred at every stage of the tabulation process:

且这些错误出现在了统计的每个环节：

in recording votes, in calculating and awarding delegates,

记录投票环节，计算并奖励代表环节

and in entering the data into the state party’s database.

和将数据输入该州民主党数据库的环节。

Hundreds of state delegate equivalents, the metric the party uses to determine delegates for the national convention,

这样一来，这些选区的数百张州代表等价票，即用来决定此次全国选举大会选票的度量，

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，爱荷华州民主党公布了由92个选区构成的一张选区名单，据说，

that it said were flagged as problematic by three presidential candidates —

这些选区都被桑德斯、印第安纳州南本德市前市长皮特·巴蒂吉格

Mr. Sanders; Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind.; and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

和马萨诸塞州参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦三名总统候选人标记成了存疑选区。

That figure is far fewer than the number with inconsistencies captured in the Times review.

然而，这一数字远远低于《纽约时报》评论文章提到的存在不一致的投票数据。

The Associated Press said it was unable to declare a caucus winner.

美联社表示无法决定此次初选的胜出者。

Sean Bagniewski, the Democratic chairman of Polk County, which includes Des Moines,

得梅因市所在的波尔克郡的民主党主席肖恩·巴格涅夫斯基

blamed state officials for neglecting the hard work of overseeing the caucuses.

指责该州官员忽视了监管初选投票这一艰巨任务。

“It’s very easy to slip into the celebrity of the caucuses,” Mr. Bagniewski said.

“他们很容易陷入投票小组带来的名誉之中，”巴格涅夫斯基称。

State party leaders, he said, were distracted by offers to appear on cable TV,

他表示，州的党领导被有线电视的露面邀请，

hobnob with national Democratic leaders and meet presidential candidates,

与国家层面的党领导人交谈以及认识总统候选人等荣誉分散了注意力，

and did not take their day-to-day duties “seriously from the get-go.’’

故“从一开始就没有认真对待”自己的日常工作职责。

In the aftermath of the disaster, state and national party leaders are pointing fingers at one another.

灾难发生后，州级党领导和国家级党领导便开始互相推诿。

On Sunday, Mr. Price, the state party chairman, said he was proud of the volunteers who put on the caucuses

周日，州党委主席普莱斯表示，他为成就了此次大选的志愿者们感到自豪，

and that the state party worked with the national committee for months to prepare for them.

也为该州民主党人，他们为准备大选已经与该党的全国委员会努力了数月之久，感到自豪。