美國大選:兩黨在最後階段推動選民登記
The U.S. presidential election is approaching, and political parties and advocacy groups across the nation are making a final push to get people registered to vote and to the polls for the November 6th contest. Groups are mobilizing to get an underrepresented group of eligible voters involved in the process.
美國總統大選還有兩個星期，各政黨與政治團體在全國進行最後階段的努力讓更多的人登記註冊參加11月6號的投票，其中包括那些政治程度偏低的羣體。Shakei Haynes is helping college students register to vote in the November election.
沙凱.海恩斯正在幫助大學生登記註冊，參加11月的投票。He's been doing this since 2005 when he was 16-years-old. Now he's a political science student at Howard University in Washington. He says the job is getting easier.
2005年當時只有16歲的海恩斯就開始參與這項工作。現在他是霍華德大學政治系學生。他說這個工作並不難：
"Mobilizing individuals to get registered to vote has not been hard at all because people understand the urgency. In this election, you have two different contrasting views of what America should look like over the next four years," said Haynes.
“動員人們登記註冊從來就不是什麼艱難的工作，因爲人們瞭解它的緊迫性。在今年的大選中，我們面臨的是兩種截然不同的選擇，會影響美國今後四年的方向。”Some of these young African-American students will be first-time voters. Nearly half of the seven million African Americans ages 18 to 30 were unregistered and therefore not eligible to vote, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.
這些年輕的非洲裔學生有的將是第一次參加投票。根據美國2010年的人口普查，在7百萬18到30歲的非洲裔美國人當中將近一半的人沒有登記，也就是說他們還沒有投票的資格。Shakei says that is unacceptable and young people, especially minorities, should not be underrepresented in the political process.
沙凱.海恩斯說，這種現象不應該存在，特別是那些政治參與程度偏低的少數族裔："A democracy should be reflective of the people who are in it. If we can, you know, make that process a little easier for students then that is our job, and that is the reward at the end of the day," he said.
“民主應該代表所有的人；我們會盡一切努力讓學生們更容易參與這個政治程序，這是我們的工作，也讓我們很有成就感。”Howard student Jai Dungey is from New Jersey. She says everyone should know their vote matters.
霍華德大學學生賈伊.鄧吉來自新澤西州。她說每個人的選票都是重要的："Voting is a right, it is a right. People need to realize that it is not a privilege. We should come together and just take advantage of this right we have been given and people have worked so hard to give us," said Dungey.
“投票是一個權利。人們需要知道這不是特權。我們一定要充分利用這個權利，這樣纔不辜負那些爲了這個權利做出貢獻的人。”Corion Jones is voting for the first time. He's from the battleground state of Ohio. He feels his vote could help determine the outcome of the election.
科裏恩.瓊斯將第一次參加投票。他來自搖擺州俄亥俄州。他認爲自己的一票有助於決定大選結果："Everyone should be able to express what they want or what they feel in their own country, so the opportunity and the ability to vote is highly important," said Jones.
“每個人都應該表達自己的意願，他們對國家的看法，所以說投票的機會是非常重要的。Gail Kitch is chief operating officer with the non-partisan Voter Participation Center in Washington. Her group launched a voter-registration campaign by mail last year targeting young people of color and unmarried women.
蓋爾.凱奇是華盛頓非黨派的選民登記中心(Voter Participation Center)的首席營運官。這個機構去年以寄信的方式向年輕人和單身婦女發起了一場登記註冊運動。"The young person is sort of primed to think they are ready to participate now, and this kind of a document mailed straight to them is exactly the kind of thing they are going to respond to," she said.
她說：“年輕人現在已經做好了參與的準備，我們把這些文件寄給他們，他們一定會有所反應。”Now the push is on to make sure newly registered voters actually cast ballots in November.
登記註冊了以後接下來的工作是要說服鼓勵他們11月親身到投票站投下一票。
