纽约时报 爱荷华州的民主党初选风波(4)（在线收听）

In July, according to the email, Kat Atwater, the D.N.C.'s deputy chief technology officer,

该电子邮件显示，民主党全国委员会副CTO凯特·阿特沃特曾在7月

proposed language for vendor contracts that would give the national party access to source code,

为技术支持合同提出过语言方面的参考，中央的民主党人能够籍此访问原始代码，

and allow it to test apps and other products used by the state party.

甚至测试地方民主党人使用的软件及其他产品。

Iowa party officials rejected the proposed language.

但爱荷华州的地方民主党官员拒绝了这一提议。

Weeks later, in August, the national party cited security concerns

几周后的八月，中央党委援引对投票软件的安全考虑，

when it vetoed the Iowa Democratic Party's proposal to hold a "virtual caucus,"

否决了爱荷华地方党委召开“虚拟投票”，

which would have allowed absentee participation by phone.

即缺席现场投票的选民也可使用手机参与投票的提议。

The disagreements delayed approval of Iowa's caucus plan until late September.

双方的分歧致使爱荷华州的投票计划推迟到9月下旬才被通过。

The state would use remote "satellite caucuses" to allow Iowans

该州会开展远程“卫星投票”——

who could not make it to their precinct caucus sites to participate,

便于无法到选区投票现场参加投票的爱荷华人也能参与投票——

and a smartphone app for precinct leaders to report results.

还会启用一款智能手机软件让选区负责人汇报投票结果。

One man would oversee all of it.

有一个人会负责监管整个流程。

Mr. Price, 39, a lifelong Iowan who became chairman of the state Democratic Party in July 2017, had a sterling resume.

现年39岁的普莱斯一直住在爱荷华州，于2017年7月当选为该州民主党主席，此人履历非常出色。

He had been an aide to two former Iowa governors and a top figure in both

他曾两度担任爱荷华州州长助手，2012年奥巴马总统在该州参加连任选举，

President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign in the state and in Mrs. Clinton's 2016 run.

2016年希拉里·克林顿在该州竞选时，他都扮演了举足轻重的角色。

He relished the national attention the caucuses attracted.

他很享受投票小组吸引的来自全国的目光。

In early November, at an annual state party dinner that drew 13,000 people,

11月初，该州民主党举办了一场年度晚宴，出席嘉宾多达13000名，

he spoke for 18 minutes, longer than any of the presidential candidates did.

晚宴上，他发表了长达18分钟的演讲，比现场任何一位总统候选人的发言都长。

Mr. Price spent the months before the caucuses defending Iowa's pre-eminent position in the presidential primary process,

投票前的数月，候选人纷纷慨叹爱荷华州的投票机制缺乏多样性且晦涩难懂，

as candidates bemoaned Iowa's lack of diversity and arcane caucusing process.

普莱斯一直试图捍卫爱荷华州在总统初选过程中的领先地位。

At an August news conference, Mr. Price projected total confidence.

他在8月份的一次新闻发布会上表示，对爱荷华州的投票工作信心十足。

"Just know this," he said, gesturing with a pointed finger for emphasis.

“但请你记住，”普莱斯边说边伸出食指强调。

"On Feb. 3 of 2020, caucuses will take place in this state. We will be first.

“2020年2月3日爱荷华便会开始投票。我们将成为最早开始投票的州。

And they will be, without a doubt, the most successful caucuses in our party's history."

而且毫无疑问，我们举办的投票活动也会成为我党历史上最成功的投票活动。”

Just days before the caucuses, precinct leaders received their first instructions

距离投票已经只剩几天了，选区领导才第一次收到

for downloading an app they were to use to record and send results.

需要下载即将被用来记录并发送投票结果的软件的指示。

The app was created by Shadow Inc., a company recommended to Iowa party officials

开发该软件的是“影子股份有限公司”，推荐爱荷华民主党官员使用这一软件的

by Democratic leaders in Nevada, who were working with it as well.

是内华达州的民主党领导层，后者与该公司也有合作。

The chief executive of Shadow, Gerard Niemira, was a veteran of the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign,

该公司的CEO杰拉德·尼米拉在2016年希拉里·克林顿的竞选活动中表现得颇有经验，

where he oversaw tech products like an app the campaign used

当时使用的科技产品，比如用来发挥党团投票使用的古怪公式，

to take advantage of the quirky math of caucuses and track results in real time.

实时追踪投票结果的一款软件便是他负责监控的。

Because of the delays in planning Iowa's caucuses,

由于爱荷华州的投票进程被推迟，

Shadow personnel didn't enter into a contract for the Iowa app until the fall of 2019,

直到2019年秋影子公司才签订为爱荷华州开发这款软件的合同，

compressing an already tight timeline on a deal that paid relatively little —

本就紧张的时间表进一步被压缩，不仅如此，就定制技术服务而言，

a bit more than $60,000 so far — for customized technology services.

此笔交易的酬劳也相对微薄——截至目前仅略高于6万美元。