特朗普政府在最后关头对美国海外公民的关键缺席投票表格进行了修改，引发了担忧，认为这可能会在今年的中期选举中让部分海外选民感到困惑。
The Trump administration has made last-minute changes to key absentee-voting forms for U.S. citizens living abroad, raising concerns about confusing some overseas voters during this year's midterm elections.
这两份表格的修订于8月下旬由五角大楼发布。该部门负责管理投票援助计划，提供表格让符合条件的海外公民、美国军人及其家属登记并参加联邦选举。
The revisions to two forms came in late August from the Pentagon. The department runs the voting assistance program that provides forms allowing eligible overseas citizens, plus U.S. military members and their families, to for and participate in federal elections.
在各州面临9月19日向这些选民寄送中期选票截止日期的几周前，五角大楼提交了“紧急”请求，以绕过修改联邦表格通常需要的数月漫长流程。
Weeks before a Sept. 19 deadline for states to send those voters midterm ballots, the Pentagon submitted "emergency" requests to bypass the usual months-long process for changing federal forms.
修改内容包括取消了一个供海外美国公民勾选的选项，即认定自己“从未居住在美国”。取消该选项后，对于没有现役军人身份关联的海外公民，只剩下两个回复选项。这两个选项都要求海外公民做出宣誓声明：要么他们打算返回美国，要么他们对是否返回不确定。但一些在美国境外出生的美国公民从未在美国居住过。
Among the changes was removing a checkbox for an overseas U.S. citizen to identify as having "never lived in the United States." The removal leaves only two response options for those without an active-duty military connection. Both options require overseas citizens to make a sworn declaration: Either they intend to return to the U.S. or are uncertain about returning. But some U.S. citizens who were born abroad have never lived in the United States at all.
许多州和华盛顿特区允许通常被称为“从未居住”公民的人投票，条件是他们有一名亲属在离开美国前最后居住在该州或领地，包括在军队服役的父母或法定监护人。
Many states and Washington, D.C., allow what are often referred to as "never-resided" citizens to vote if they have a relative who last lived in that state or territory before leaving the U.S., including a parent or legal guardian serving in the military.
然而，自2024年以来，共和党官员一直在推动阻止这些美国公民投票。
Since 2024, however, Republican officials have been pushing to block these U.S. citizens from voting.
在诉讼中，共和党官员辩称，允许“从未居住”公民投票的州法律和其他规定违反了州宪法。他们还在法庭文件中声称，这些美国公民中非共和党选民占比不成比例，允许他们投票损害了共和党赢得选举的机会。
In lawsuits, GOP officials have argued state laws and other rules permitting voting by never-resided citizens violate state constitutions. They also have claimed in court filings that these U.S. citizens are disproportionatelyed as non-Republican voters and allowing them to cast ballots hurts GOP chances of winning elections.
共和党在北卡罗来纳州的法庭挑战取得了成功，但在密歇根州两次遭到驳回，类似的诉讼仍在亚利桑那州和至少其他五个州继续进行。
While Republican court challenges have been successful in North Carolina, they have been rebuffed twice in Michigan as similar lawsuits continue in Arizona and at least five other states.
目前，符合条件的从未居住过的选民可以继续通过其有资格投票的州或领地提供的任何替代方式申请和请求选票。
For now, eligible never-resided voters can continue to and request ballots through any alternative ways provided by the state or territory where they are eligible to vote.
五角大楼的联邦投票援助计划（FVAP）表示，州选举官员可以继续处理其表格的旧版本。美国国家公共电台（NPR）询问这一做法能持续多久，五角大楼在一份声明中表示：“各州负责管理选举，可以处理任何提供验证选民在其辖区内投票资格所需信息的表格或申请。” 尽管如此，许多海外和军人投票权倡导者担心，联邦表格的新变更——此前由媒体“Democracy Docket”率先报道——正在为居住在国外的美国公民设置最新的投票障碍。
And the Pentagon's Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) says state election officials can keep processing previous versions of its forms. Asked by NPR how long that can continue, the Pentagon said in a statement: "States administer elections and can process any form or application that provides the information required to verify a voter's eligibility to vote in their jurisdiction." Still, many overseas and military voting advocates are worried the new federal form changes, which were reported earlier by the outlet Democracy Docket, are setting up the latest hurdle to the ballot box for U.S. citizens living abroad.
特朗普政府官员移除了沿用十多年的海外选民类别 自2013年以来，“联邦明信片申请表”和“联邦手写缺席选票”的某个版本中一直包含从未居住过的选民复选框。
Trump officials removed an overseas voter category that's been on forms for more than a decade Some version of the checkbox for never-resided voters has been on what's known as the "Federal Post Card Application" and the "Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot" since 2013.
“我实际上曾推动修改该法规以更改表格。但我不想在2012年大选期间这么做，所以让它在2013年生效，”曾领导FVAP直至2012年离职的退役美国海军上校鲍勃·凯里说道。
"I actually worked that regulation to change the form. But I didn't want to do it right in the middle of the 2012 election, so I had it effective come 2013," says Bob Carey, a retired U.S. Navy captain who led FVAP until departing in 2012.
凯里回忆说，增加从未居住过的选民类别这一想法源自一些州选举官员和海外投票权倡导者。
Carey recalls the idea of adding a category for never-resided voters came from some state election officials and overseas voting advocates.
“当时我心想，‘好吧，这不会有太大影响。我就加上这个选项吧，’”凯里补充道。
"At the time, I was sort of saying to myself, 'OK, this won't make that big of a difference. I'll add the block,' " Carey adds.
但十多年后，五角大楼表示，它已改变了对一项名为《统一和海外公民缺席投票法》的联邦法律的解读。
But more than a decade later, the Pentagon says it has changed its interpretation of a federal law known as the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
五角大楼人事与战备副次长肖恩·奥基夫在一份关于8月紧急修改表格请求的信函中写道：“我们最近注意到，这些表格目前的格式可能会让选民对联邦法律要求他们提供的信息以及他们使用这些表格登记和投票的资格产生困惑。”
"It has recently come to our attention that the current format of these forms may confuse voters about the information they are required to provide under Federal law and their eligibility to use these forms to and vote," Sean O'Keefe, the Pentagon's deputy under secretary for personnel and readiness, wrote in a letter about the August emergency requests for changing the forms.
目前尚不清楚到底是什么促使五角大楼重新评估这些表格，这些表格现在也包含了关于选民身份识别的修订语言。
It's not clear what exactly prompted the Pentagon to reassess these forms, which now also include revised language about voter identification.
但在白宫某机构批准这些请求几天后，联邦投票援助计划（FVAP）在社交媒体帖子中表示这些表格“已更新”。五角大楼在一周多后才开始就每份表格征求公众意见。而给州选举官员的指导直到表格修改约一个月后才发布在FVAP网站上。
But days after a White House agency approved the requests, FVAP said the forms "have been updated" in social media posts. The Pentagon started a public comment period about each form more than a week later. And guidance for state election officials was not posted on FVAP's website until about a month after the forms changed.
五角大楼在一份声明中表示，FVAP还通过电子邮件直接通知了选举官员和选民，但未提供更多细节。
In a statement, the Pentagon said FVAP has also directly notified election officials and voters by email, though it provided no additional details.
一些军人和海外投票权倡导者表示，在中期选举投票季进行中之际，五角大楼应该做更多的宣传工作。
Some military and overseas voting advocates say the Pentagon should do more outreach in the middle of voting season for the midterm elections.
现担任全国防务委员会执行主任的凯里表示：“如果我是向其汇报工作的国防部人事战备次长，或者是国防部长，我会给FVAP主任打电话，说‘拼命向所有人发送信息’。”
"If I was the under secretary of defense for personnel readiness, to which FVAP reports, or the secretary of defense, I'd be calling up the [FVAP] director and saying, 'Spam the crap out of everyone,' " says Carey, who now serves as executive director of the National Defense Committee, a veterans advocacy organization focused on voting and other civil rights.
海外投票权倡导者担心这些变更将导致——而非消除——混乱。安全家庭倡议组织执行主任莎拉·斯特雷德表示，她担心五角大楼修改表格的过程缺乏透明度。该组织为军人家庭发声，曾对特朗普总统试图在中期选举中限制邮寄投票的失败推动提出挑战。
Overseas voting advocates worry the changes will cause — not eliminate — confusion Sarah Streyder, executive director of Secure Families Initiative — a group that advocates for military families and challenged President Trump's failed push for mail-in voting restrictions for the midterms — says she's concerned about the lack of transparency surrounding the Pentagon's process for changing the forms.
“推动这一改变的声音是什么？这是从哪儿来的？军人家庭是利益相关者，本应被纳入其中，因为对于这些表格真正会在哪里造成困惑、哪里不会，我们最有发言权，”斯特雷德补充说。“那是我们的表格，你们却在乱改。而且你们甚至没有征求我们的意见。这简直太侮辱人了。”
"What were the voices prompting this change? Where did this come from? Military families are stakeholders who should have been included, because we can speak most authoritatively on what truly causes confusion with these forms and what doesn't," Streyder adds. "That's our form you're messing with. And you didn't even ask us for the input. It's just very insulting."
五角大楼在一份声明中强调，修改这些表格是为了“消除选民困惑”。但美国投票基金会总裁兼首席执行官苏珊·杰杜什奇卡-苏伊纳特表示，她预计会出现相反的结果。该基金会是一个为海外选民发声的倡导组织。
The Pentagon emphasized in a statement that the forms were changed to "eliminate voter confusion." But Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and CEO of the U.S. Vote Foundation, an advocacy organization for overseas voters, says she expects the opposite to happen. "I definitely believe that the new version of the form will create far more confusion than we ever encountered with any previous version," Dzieduszycka-Suinat says. "The law hasn't changed.
“我绝对相信，新版本的表格造成的困惑将远远超过我们此前遇到的任何版本，”杰杜什奇卡-苏伊纳特说。“法律没有改变。各州仍然按照国会制定的方式运行这个项目。然而，联邦层面在[选举日]前这90天的窗口期内以不同方式呈现它——这并没有给各州留下时间来实施、培训人员、告知选民、修改说明或做任何事情。”
States still run this program the way Congress wrote it. However, the fact that it's being presented differently at the federal level within this 90-day window [before Election Day] — it doesn't give the states time to implement it, to train their people, to inform voters, to change instructions or any of it."
杰杜什奇卡-苏伊纳特指出，这些对表格的最后一刻修改，出现在共和党全国委员会今年加大法律行动之后不久。该委员会针对允许从未居住在本国的公民投票的州法律发起挑战，涉及科罗拉多州、内布拉斯加州、内华达州、新泽西州和弗吉尼亚州。
Dzieduszycka-Suinat notes these last-minute changes to the forms come shortly after the Republican National Committee ramped up its legal fight this year against state laws that allow never-resided citizens to vote, including in Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey and Virginia.
“很难忽视这样一个事实：聚光灯已经打到了这一特定选民群体身上，”杰杜什奇卡-苏伊纳特说。“而他们就这样在没有讨论的情况下被从表格中抹去，这非常令人担忧。”本杰明·斯瓦西编辑
"It's hard to ignore the fact that a spotlight has been shown onto this particular slice of voters," Dzieduszycka-Suinat says. "And it's very concerning that they've simply been wiped off the form without discussion." Edited by Benjamin Swasey