民主党人就阿拉斯加农村投票站关闭提起诉讼 诉状称18个偏远社区的投票点未能开放在司法部就阿拉斯加选票上出现两名名为丹·沙利文的联邦参议员候选人提起诉讼之际，民主党人在阿拉斯加提起诉讼，指控选举官员未能妥善运营至少18个农村投票地点。
Democrats File Suit Over Closed Polling Places in Rural Alaska Voting sites in 18 far-flung communities failed to open, the suit claims. As a Justice Department lawsuit challenging the presence of two U.S. Senate candidates named Dan Sullivan on the Alaska ballot plays out, Democrats have filed a lawsuit in Alaska accusing election officials of failing to properly operate at least 18 rural polling locations.
该诉状于周五下午在安克雷奇高等法院提交，警告称，分布在偏远、以阿拉斯加原住民为主的社区的数千名选民面临被剥夺投票权的风险，而在该州，选举往往由几千甚至几百张选票决定。
The complaint, filed Friday afternoon in Anchorage Superior Court, warns that several thousand voters across remote, predominantly Alaska Native communities face disenfranchisement in a state where elections are routinely decided by a few thousand or even a few hundred votes.
考虑到阿拉斯加地域辽阔，偏远地区选民面临后勤障碍，州法律允许任何合格选民申请缺席选票，并规定了从选举日前15天开始的缺席投票和提前投票现场投票窗口。
Given Alaska’s vast geography and the logistical hurdles voters in remote areas encounter, state law allows any qualified voter to request an absentee ballot and establishes an in-person absentee and early voting window beginning 15 days before Election Day.
在偏远社区，州政府依靠与当地市政和部落办公室达成的协议，由其承办并配备人员，设立居民可在现场投缺席选票的地点。
In remote communities, the state relies on agreements with local municipal and tribal offices to host and staff sites where residents can cast absentee ballots in person.
民主党人的诉讼指控，州政府公布的18个农村社区的缺席投票现场投票点要么未能开放、要么开放延迟、要么营业时间不固定、要么根本没有选票。在一些社区，当地工作人员据报辞职且无人接替，其他社区则未收到选票，或不知情自己本应承办投票。
The Democrats’ lawsuit alleges that state-advertised absentee-in-person voting sites across 18 rural communities either failed to open, opened late, maintained irregular hours or lacked ballots altogether. In some communities, local workers reportedly resigned without replacements, while others had not received ballots or were unaware they were supposed to host voting.
根据诉状，一些选民“乘船或乘飞机”前往指定投票地点，却被拒之门外。
According to the complaint, some voters traveled to their designated voting location “by boat or by plane” only to be turned away.
州参议员比尔·维莱乔夫斯基本月初致函选举部门，指出这18个未开放的选区，并请求协助。
State Senator Bill Wielechowski wrote the elections division earlier this month, noting the 18 precincts that hadn’t opened and asking for help.
阿拉斯加选举主任卡罗尔·比彻在本周的回应中表示，18个投票站中有12个已确认开放，3个拒绝开放，州政府官员仍在努力联系其余3个。她强调了地方合作伙伴在农村投票中应发挥的作用，暗示关于投票地点和时间的混乱主要应归咎于各村镇，而非州选举办公室。
In her response this week, the Alaska elections director, Carol Beecher, said 12 of the 18 sites had confirmed they were open, three had declined to open, and state officials were still trying to contact the remaining three. She emphasized the role local partners are supposed to play in rural voting, suggesting blame for the confusion about where and when to vote rested largely in the villages rather than the state elections office.
阿拉斯加约82%的社区无法通过公路到达，州选举办公室长期难以确保偏远地区居民能够投票，选票有时送达太晚而无法计入，或者投票站根本不开门。
Some 82 percent of Alaska communities are not accessible by road, and the state elections office routinely struggles to ensure residents in farther-flung places can vote, with ballots sometimes arriving too late to be counted or polling sites never opening.
这一次，民主党人希望州选举办公室确保所有偏远投票站都开放，并一直开放到选举日晚上8点投票结束。他们还希望州政府支付他们的律师费。
This time around, Democrats want the state elections office to make sure all remote polling sites are open and stay open until polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day. They also want the state to pay their attorney fees.
安娜·格里芬是《纽约时报》太平洋西北分社社长，负责领导对华盛顿州、爱达荷州、阿拉斯加州、蒙大拿州和俄勒冈州的报道。
Anna Griffin is the Pacific Northwest bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of Washington, Idaho, Alaska, Montana and Oregon.