数百万选民于11月3日在全国各地排队投票。在摇摆州缅因州，63岁的托德·考克斯曾在之前的选举中不止一次、而是两次支持该州现任共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯。这一次没有。
Millions lined up to cast their ballots nationwide on 3 November.
周二，这位技术专业人士考克斯将选票投给了柯林斯的民主党挑战者特洛伊·杰克逊——并非出于迫切的地方议题，而是出于对“国家发展方向”的更广泛担忧，他说道。
In the battleground state of Maine Todd Cox, 63, has supported the state’s incumbent Republican senator Susan Collins not once, but twice, in previous elections. Not this time.
“在这个政府领导下，我们肯定没有变得更仁慈、更温和，”考克斯说。“存在大量欺凌行为。这归结为负担能力问题。这是伊朗战争——本不该发生。这是对法治的漠视。他们似乎就是在对着法治嗤之以鼻。” 当数百万选民在全国排队投票之际，周二美国中期选举上空笼罩着一个问题——美国国会控制权以及对唐纳德·特朗普的关键制衡机制岌岌可危——究竟有多少美国人持有同样的看法。
On Tuesday, Cox, a technology professional, cast his vote for Collins’ Democratic challenger Troy Jackson – driven not by pressing local issues, but broader concern “for the direction the country is going in”, he said.
迹象显示，本次选举投票率很高，435个众议院席位、100个参议院席位中的35个、39个州长职位以及数千个州立法机构席位等待角逐，此外还有许多地方竞选和关于税收、堕胎权和投票规则等议题的公投提案。
“We definitely haven’t become kinder and gentler under this administration,” Cox said. “There’s a lot of bullying that goes on. It goes back to affordability. It’s the war in Iran – that shouldn’t be happening. It’s the disregard for the rule of law. It just seems like they’re thumbing their nose at it.”As millions lined up to cast their ballots nationwide, the question looming over Tuesday’s US midterm elections – with control of US Congress and key checks and balances on Donald Trump at stake – was just how many Americans felt the same way.
要在华盛顿赢得美国参议院控制权，民主党必须翻转四个共和党把持的席位，并保住目前该党持有的所有席位。他们同时只需净增三个席位即可在众议院获得多数。
There were signs of high turnout in this election, with 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 of 100 seats in the Senate, 39 governorships and thousands of state legislative seats up for grabs, as well as many local contests and ballot measures on issues including taxes, abortion rights and voting rules.
接受《卫报》在全国各地采访的选民表示，可负担性担忧、特朗普对伊朗的战争以及其政府对移民的激进打击，是促使他们投票的关键问题之一。在得克萨斯州和缅因州等关键州，投票站外排起了长队。据组织者称，在缅因州，稳定的选民流于上午中段涌入波特兰繁忙市中心的梅里尔礼堂投票站，导致投票排队时间长达半小时。
To win control of the US Senate in Washington, Democrats must flip four Republican-held seats and retain all of those currently held by the party. They meanwhile need a net gain of just three seats to obtain a majority in the House.
“我担心这里在波特兰发生的冰局突袭，”55岁的梅普尔·拉兹萨说，他是沃特维尔科尔比学院的全球研究教授。“政治体制此时已完全失控。”
terviews with the Guardian across the country, voters cited affordability concerns, Trump’s war on Iran and his administration’s aggressive crackdown on immigration as among the key issues that had driven them to cast their votes. Lines formed outside polling stations in key states including Texas and In Maine, a steady stream of voters entered the Merrill auditorium polling station in Portland’s busy downtown district in mid-morning, leading to queues of up to half an hour to cast a ballot, according to organizers.
然而，对特朗普所在政党的支持依然强劲。“我投了全票共和党，”缅因州一名63岁男子说，他拒绝透露姓名。“我不太了解这些议题，但我还没准备好放弃以色列。我并不真正把伊朗战争看作一场真正的战争。我们损失了什么？几十人。在这些战争中我们损失成百上千人，如果他们拥有核弹，我们反正都要发生核战争。”
“I’m concerned about ICE raids that have been happening here in Portland,” said Maple Razsa, 55, a global studies professor at Colby College in Waterville. “The political system is just run amok at this point.”
在佐治亚州，参议院和州长的激烈角逐正在上演，来自约翰斯克里克的律师大卫·博伊尽管坚决反感总统，但昨天仍投了共和党的票。“我不喜欢特朗普。我从未投过他的票，”他说。“我想能对自己说，直到临终我也从未投过他的票。”但这是中期选举——而非总统大选——他超越对现任白宫主人的看法，试图选出他认为会在自己关心的议题上采取行动的候选人。
There was still robust support for Trump’s party, however. “I voted straight Republican,” said a 63-year-man in Maine, who declined to give his name. “I don’t know much about the issues, but I’m not ready to throw away Israel yet. I don’t really see the war in Iran as a real war. What have we lost? Dozens. We lose hundreds and thousands in these wars and if they have a nuclear bomb, we’re going to have a nuclear war anyway.”
“我有学龄孩子，所以要确保学校对他们来说是好的，”Boy说。“税收。我正处于收入高峰期，所以要交税……还有对我个人而言，我的信仰、正直和道德问题。还有，我希望事情能办得好。老实说，我希望我们的政府能高效、有效地运转。” 时代依然分裂。来自佐治亚州约翰斯克里克的工程师Jason Griffin表示，他周二专门因特朗普而受到激励去投票给民主党人。“我过去喜欢大多数共和党人的政策，”他说。
Georgia where heated races for the Senate and governor are playing out, David Boy, an attorney from Johns Creek, voted for Republicans yesterday despite his staunch antipathy for the president. “I don’t like Trump. I’ve never voted for him,” he said. “I want to go to my deathbed saying I never did.”But these are midterm elections – not presidential – and he looked beyond his view of the current occupant of the White House in a bid to elect candidates he believed would act on the issues he cared about.
在爱荷华州得梅因一座长老会教堂投票的独立选民Stacey拒绝透露全名，她说自己周二从头到尾都投给了民主党人，这并非她的惯常做法。
“I’ve got school-age kids, so making sure the schools are good for them,” said Boy. “Taxes. I’m in the prime earning years right now, so paying taxes … and then also for me, personally, my faith and integrity and moral issues. And then, I want things to be run well. Honestly, I want our government to be run efficiently and effectively.”These remain divided times. Jason Griffin, an engineer from Johns Creek, Georgia, said he was specifically motivated to vote for Democrats on Tuesday by Trump. “I used to like the policies of most of the Republicans,” he said.
“我想不投给任何共和党人，”她说，理由是共和党人“空洞的承诺”和“缺乏常识”。她补充说，经济状况——尤其是对年轻家庭而言——也影响了她的投票。
Stacey, an independent voter at a Presbyterian church in Des Moines, Iowa, who declined to share her full name, said she voted for Democrats up and down her ballot on Tuesday, which isn’t the norm for her.
其他人则受地方问题驱动。“密歇根州一团糟，”住在迪尔伯恩、60多岁、拒绝透露姓氏的Sona谈到这个双方都在争夺、通往控制参议院之路上的另一个关键摇摆州时说。她投了共和党的票。
“I wanted to vote for no Republicans,” she said, citing “empty promises” and a “lack of common sense” from the Republicans. The economy – especially for young families – played into her vote, she added.
Sona称自己是终身保守派，反对堕胎，并担心“跨性别主义”，具体指跨性别运动员参加女子体育比赛——这是共和党人近几个月来猛攻的一个议题。她还指出，工资据她说比邻近州低约1万美元，电费也很高。
Others were driven by local concerns. “Michigan is in a dumpster fire,” Sona, a Dearborn resident in her 60s who declined to give her last name, said of another key swing state that both parties have chased on the path to controlling the Senate. She voted Republican.
在新罕布什尔州小镇罗切斯特的一个投票站外，正值下班高峰时段，独立选民丽贝卡·康纳斯表示，她周二投了“非常倾向民主党”的票，以向特朗普传递一个信息。“他在制造混乱。”
Sona described herself as a lifelong conservative who opposes abortion and is concerned about “transgenderism”, specifically transgender athletes in women’s sports – an issue Republicans have sought to hammer in recent months. She also pointed to wages she said run about $10,000 below those in neighboring states, and to high electric bills.
“我想让经济降下来。我想能以低于3.50美元的价格买到汽油，”49岁的康纳斯说。“我们每天努力工作，却无法过上更好的生活。”她补充说，让民主程序对总统施加一些“制衡”很重要，她解释说，她希望当选官员能质疑他，“而不是跪下来亲吻他的脚”。
Outside a polling location during the after-work rush in Rochester, a small town in New Hampshire, Rebecca Connors, an independent, said she had voted “very Democratic” on Tuesday to send a message to Trump. “He’s wreaking havoc.”
但在另一个战场州阿拉斯加，共和党选民约翰·豪斯对特朗普的评价褒贬不一。“他说话太多了，但他为我们做了这么多事，”他说。但现年62岁、在安克雷奇生活和工作的木匠豪斯对民主党毫无好感。“投民主党的票简直是蠢得要命，”他断言道。“我们会倒退回去。”
“I want the economy to come back down again. I want to be able to get gas for below $3.50,” said Connors, 49. “We work hard every day, and yet we can’t get ahead.”It is important for the democratic process to put some “checks and balances” on the president, she added, explaining that she wanted elected officials who would question him, “as opposed to getting down on their hands and knees, and kissing his feet”.
许多选民持不同看法。27岁的肖尼斯·卡尔投了阿拉斯加民主党参议员候选人玛丽·佩尔托拉一票——她形容这一举动对她“极其重要”。“阿拉斯加发生了很多坏事，世界上也是。暴力事件很多。移民与海关执法局（ICE）突袭搜捕，人们以可怕的方式被驱逐出境。我希望今天我们能开始把这些暴力从生活中清除出去。”
But in Alaska another battleground state, Republican voter John House had a mixed assessment of Trump. “He talks too much, but he’s done so much for us,” he said. But House, 62, a carpenter living and working in Anchorage, had no time for the Democrats. “You’d be a damn fool to vote Democrat,” he declared. “We’ll go backwards.”
胡安尼塔·库帕也投了佩尔托拉一票。物价上涨，生活艰难。她每两周要花120美元给卡车加满油，在阿拉斯加积雪覆盖的荒野里，她离不开这辆车。她手头太紧了，不得不搬回父母家住。“我靠工资过日子，一张工资单过到下一张。”
Many voters took a different view. Chaunice Carr, 27, cast her vote for Mary Peltola, the Democratic senate candidate in Alaska – an action she described as “insanely important” to her. “There are a lot of bad things happening in Alaska, in the world. A lot of violence. ICE raids, people being deported in horrid ways. I’m hoping that today we can start to get that violence out of our lives.”
她也不是特朗普的粉丝。“他在散布仇恨、种族主义，”30岁的库帕说。“他的领导方式令人作呕——他说话谈论女性和人类生命的方式。”
Juanita Cupa, also voted for Peltola. Prices are up, and life is tough. She spends $120 every two weeks filling up her truck, which she can’t do without in Alaska’s snowy wilderness. She is so hard up that she has had to move back in with her parents. “I’m living check to check.”
近几天，阿拉斯加因一份报告而骚动不已，报告称佩尔托拉的竞选团队曾策划招募另一名同名候选人丹·苏利文上选票，此人与她的共和党对手同名。佩尔托拉否认知情，称其竞选团队未参与此类阴谋。
She was no fan of Trump, either. “He is spreading hatred, racism,” said Cupa, 30. “His leadership is disgusting – the way he talks about women, and human life.”Alaska has been roiled in recent days by a report Peltola’s that campaign was behind an effort to recruit another candidate on the ballot called Dan Sullivan, with the same name as her Republican opponent. Peltola has denied any knowledge of such a scheme on the part of her campaign.
“这事儿两边都闹了不少笑话，”库帕无奈地耸耸肩说。“我们都盼着它赶紧结束。”
“It’s just been a lot of foolishness around this, on both sides,” said Cupa, with a weary shrug. “We’re all ready for it to be over.”