评论
打印
The world's biggest democracy just had an election.
世界上最大的民主国家刚刚举行了选举。
"The world’s biggest democratic election"
“世界上规模最大的一次民主选举。”
"It’s a marathon election." "A mammoth undertaking."
“这是一场马拉松式的选举。” “一项巨大的举措。”
"It’s the world’s biggest exercise in democracy."
“这是世界上规模最大的一次民主实践。”
In India, voters picked its central government for the next five years.
在印度，选民们就未来五年中央政府的组成进行了投票。
An eighth of the world's population was eligible to vote in this election.
这次选举，有资格投票的人口数目占到了世界总人口的八分之一。
This year, 2019, there are 900 million eligible voters in India, making this the largest Democratic exercise in the history of humanity.
今年，也就是2019年，印度合格选民的人数达到了9亿，这也是人类历史上规模最大的一次民主实践。
But this isn't a video about Indian politics, because before India's people can even cast their vote, the election needs to come to them.
但这期视频要讲的并不是印度的政治，因为印度人民能够投票之前，选举先要到他们身边去。
Polling stations need to be set up wherever people live.
政府要在选民周边设立投票站，无论他们身在何地。
And in one of the largest and most populous countries in the world, that isn't an easy task.
对作为世界上人口最多、面积最大的国家之一的印度来说，这并非易事。
India has to reach voters in coastal cities in the south, in the rural regions of the west, and jungles to the east and everywhere in between.
印度政府不仅要照顾到南部沿海城市的选民，还要照顾到西部农村地区、东部丛林地区以及所有在这些地区之间的地区的选民。
And what's more, they want every Indian citizen to be within 2 km of a voting station.
更重要的是，他们希望，所有印度公民与投票站的距离都在两公里之内。
That's only about 25 city blocks, no matter where you are in the country.
差不多就是25个城市街区的距离，而且是无论选民身在印度的哪个地区。
It's an incredibly ambitious goal and yet, somehow they're able to do it.
这可以说是一个无比远大的目标，问题是，他们竟然真的做到了。
This is the biggest election in the world and I wanted to know how does it work.
既然这是世界上规模最大的一次选举，那我倒想知道它究竟是如何运作的。
Every election, a team of government officials and security forces get on a boat in the east of India to take off towards this island.
每届选举，都会有一队政府官员和警卫从印度东部登船，前往这个岛屿。
They travel about 100 km to get here, all to securely deliver these Electronic Voting Machines or EVMS,
他们要走大约100公里才能到这儿，为的是将这些电子投票机(EVMS)安全送达此地，
the instrument that logs India's votes, the heart of this elaborate election process.
这些机器不仅是记录选票的设备，也是这个精心设计的选举程序的核心所在。
India has 2.3 million voting machines for its 900 million voters.
印度为9亿选民准备了230万台投票机。
So getting these machines close to every voter is a big logistical undertaking.
要将这么多机器分配到每一位选民身边无疑是一项十分艰巨的物流工作。
That's why India doesn't have a single Election Day, instead, it's closer to an election month with multiple phases that last weeks.
这也是为什么印度没有一个特定的选举日的原因，他们的更接近选举月，通常有好几个阶段，持续时间长达数周。
This process takes more than 11 million election officials and security forces,
这一过程需要1100多万选举官员和警卫
who move from polling station to polling station to polling station, from densely populated cities to the rural areas where the majority of Indians live.
从一个投票站辗转到另一个投票站，从人口密集的城市辗转到大多数印度人居住的农村地区。
Once on the island with the EVMs, officials pile on to bike carts and head towards the polling station.
和EVMs一起上岛之后，官员们还要挤三轮车前往投票站。
Once they arrive, they begin setting everything up for the vote.
到了投票站之后就要开始为投票做准备。
On Election Day, voters line up, cast their vote, and get their fingers inked to prevent double voting.
选举日当天，选民们排好队，投票，接着还要在手指上涂上墨水，防止重复投票。
This is where the process ends for the voters, but for the election officials, this is just the beginning.
到这里，选民的工作就算结束了，但对选举官员们来说，这还只是个开始。
Driving a boat out to a remote island is just one of many ways that officials reach every voter.
驾船前往偏远岛屿只是官员们触及每一位选民的众多途径之一。
India's vast and diverse terrain requires transportation methods of all kinds,
鉴于印度广阔多样的地形，官员们必须采取各种各样的交通方式，
like in the jungles of this northern state, where elephants transport voting machines to reach a remote town, or in the Himalayas where officials hike for hours to bring EVMS for election day.
比如在这个北部州的丛林地区，就要靠大象把投票机运送到偏远的小镇，在喜马拉雅山脉附近，官员们就要徒步数小时才能将选举日用的EVMS送到当地选民身边。
Helicopters, trains, they even use camels.
此外，官员们还会用到直升机，火车，甚至是骆驼。
But what makes India's elections so impressive isn't just how they reach everyone in such a big country, that's just half the battle.
但印度的这次选举之所以如此引人注目不仅仅是因为印度这个国家这么大，他们都照顾到了所有人，这只是一半的原因。
It's also the ways they try to include voters of all backgrounds into the process, a challenge that has been a part of India's elections since the very beginning.
还因为他们设法让各种背景的选民都参与到了投票之中，而这一点自印度选举诞生之初就一直是他们面临的一个挑战。
India has 22 official languages and hundreds of dialects
印度官方语言就有22种，方言则多达数百种，
and when India became an independent nation, less than a quarter of the population could read and write.
而印度独立之初，只有不到四分之一的人口具备读写能力。
The newly formed Election Commission of India created a range of symbols to correspond to each political party,
新成立的印度选举委员会设定了一系列与各政党相对应的符号，
like an elephant, a lotus, a hand or even an alarm clock
如大象，莲花，一只手，甚至是一个闹钟，
so that from the beginning all people regardless of literacy level and language could vote with confidence.
这样一来，一开始，所有选民，无论文化水平和语言，就都能放心地投票了。
Since 1947, the literacy rate has increased significantly,
自1947年独立以来，印度人民的识字率已经有了显著提高，
but it's still only 75 percent, so these symbols are still useful to many when casting a vote.
但目前仍然只有75%，所以，投票时，这些符号对很多人都还是很有用的。
But this is a massive sprawling operation, and over the years it's run into some pretty serious problems, like allegations of election rigging
但印度的选举规模庞大，覆盖面很广，这些年来也遇到了一些非常严重的问题，比如选举舞弊的指控，
and problems with a practice called booth capture, where gangs actually take over polling stations and tamper with the elections.
还有所谓的“劫持投票站”，也即犯罪团伙控制投票站，干预选举的问题。
It's partly because of these problems that the Commission introduced these voting machines in the 1990s.
一定程度上而言，正是因为存在这些问题，印度的选举委员会才在上世纪90年代引进了这些投票机。
It also increased security around the elections.
还加强了选举前后的治安。
These efforts to include all voters and protect elections seem to be working.
这些听取所有选民的声音，保护选举的努力似乎已经有了成效。
In 2019, India saw the highest voter turnout yet and for the first time women voted just as much as men.
2019年，印度出现了有史以来最高的投票率，女性的投票率也破天荒地追上了男性的投票率。
India's elections are only getting bigger and more complicated.
今后，印度的选举只会规模越来越大，越来越复杂。
India has one of the fastest growing populations in the world.
印度的人口增长率放眼全球都没有几个国家比得上。
And in 2020, young people will make up more than a third of the country.
到2020年，年轻人将占到印度总人口的三分之一以上。
"I vote for the first time since turning 18. And this is my indelible ink mark."
这是我成年以后第一次投票。我手上还有擦不掉的墨水标记。”
"Done with the voting."
“投完票啦。”
"I am so happy that I did my voting for the first time. Here it is."
“第一次投票，超开心~这就是证据啦。”
This is the biggest election in the world that takes millions of officials fanning out across a massive country to help hundreds of millions vote.
这是世界上规模最大的选举，数百万官员被分配到这个幅员辽阔的国家的各个地方，去帮助数亿人投票。
Every part of this, the symbols, the elephants, the boats, the machines shows how hard it is to make sure that everyone in a country this large can participate
每一个环节，无论是投票用的那些符号，还是充当运输工具的大象，船只，还有那几百万台投票机，都显示了让这么庞大的一个国家的每个人都参与到选举之中，
and all without going more than two kilometers from home.
还要让所有人都能在距离家门口不超过两公里的地方完成投票是何等的困难。
