密歇根新闻广播 周二的初选将对密歇根州的选举制度进行“压力测试”

 

Tuesday primaries will 'stress test' Michigan election system

Don’t wait. Drop off your ballot¹ in person. It’s too late to put it in the mail if you want it to be counted. That’s the advice elections officials are giving voters in advance of Tuesday’s primaries when a record number of votes will be cast via absentee ballot.

Listen Listening...3:52 Listen to the story.

The 2020 Michigan primary is shaping up to be a unique experiment in the future of voting.

A lot of voters want to avoid the dangers of waiting in lines at polling places due to COVID-19. There’s also the new state law that makes it easier for people to vote from home using an absentee ballot. But this surge of interest in absentee voting has also led to complications.

Emma Davis says she applied² online for an absentee ballot.

“With the pandemic and kind of the weird³ sense of time, I didn’t particularly want to incur⁴ an extra risk of waiting at the polls on line on Tuesday,” said Davis, who lives in Detroit.

Davis said she waited several days but her ballot never arrived. She went back online and checked the clerk’s website. She saw that it had not been sent.

“So I started getting a little concerned that I wouldn’t receive the ballot even in time to send it back.”

On Friday, she decided⁵ to head into the clerk’s office and waited about 20 minutes in a socially distanced line to get her absentee ballot. And she brought it home to fill out. Davis has until 8 PM Tuesday to drop off her ballot. If she misses that deadline, her ballot won’t be counted.

Also on Friday, the Michigan Supreme⁶ Court refused to hear a case filed by the League of Women Voters. It asked the court to require any ballot postmarked by 8 o’clock on the day of the election to be counted. So the 8 o’clock drop-off is the rule – at least for the primary.

Ballots⁷ that are mailed in but arrive after the election day deadline is the number one reason absentee ballots are rejected, and those votes are not counted, according to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

“At this point, we encourage people to use the drop boxes that are in nearly every jurisdiction⁸ in our state,” she said. “You have to use your local drop box because that is the one your local clerk will use to pick up your ballot on election night, and begin the tabulation⁹ process.”

Benson said the two other most common reasons absentee ballots are rejected are people forget to sign the outer envelope, or the signature on the ballot does not match the signature that’s on file with local clerks.

The Tuesday primary will be a stress test on plans to deal with voting during a health crisis, as well as implementing¹⁰ the wishes of voters who adopted an initiative in 2018 to make it easier to cast an absentee ballot.

“We’re really looking at August as a proving ground for what November could look like,” said Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck.

Roebuck said he’s going to be looking at how efficiently¹¹ his operation can tabulate¹² a record number of absentee ballots, but also safely operate polling places for people who still want to show up and vote.

“What do our precincts look like? What is the traffic in the precinct look like? And how can we properly handle that flow with appropriate social distancing measures?” he said. “And making sure that our equipment and our voting booths are clean and that voters feel safe”

And voters it is very possible people will not know who the winners and the losers are on election night.

“We need to normalize that election results will take longer when you’ve got a larger number of ballots coming by mail,” said Amy Cohen, executive director of the National Association of State Election Directors.

She said that’s true not only in Michigan, but across the country.

“It’s not a sign that there’s a problem, or some kind of problem or some kind of compromise,” she said. “It’s proof of the commitment that elections officials have to the integrity of the process and counting every single vote.”

So the new reality may be it will be waiting for elections to be called days – not hours -- after the last ballot’s been accepted.

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 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

3 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

4 incur   

vt.招致，蒙受，遭遇

参考例句：

• Any costs that you incur will be reimbursed in full.你的所有花费都将全额付还。
• An enterprise has to incur certain costs and expenses in order to stay in business.一个企业为了维持营业,就不得不承担一定的费用和开支。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 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。

7 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》

8 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。

9 tabulation   

作表，表格； 表列结果； 列表； 造表

参考例句：

• A tabulation of a function of two variables is cumbersome, but possible. 二元函数的列表法是不方便的，然而是可能的。
• Such a tabulation cannot represent adequately the complex gradation relationships between the types. 这样的图表不能充分代表各类型之间的复杂级配关系。

10 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

11 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

12 tabulate   

v.列表，排成表格式

参考例句：

• It took me ten hours to tabulate the results.我花了十个小时把结果制成表格。
• Let me tabulate the results as follows.让我将结果列表如下。