維吉尼亞州福爾斯徹奇的一個投票站在超級星期二總統初選中（State Dept./D.A. Peterson）
在3月3日超級星期二（Super Tuesday），當美國14個州數以百萬計的選民來到投票站時，我們也在那裡。我們和來自維吉尼亞各地及全世界各地的報導美國總統選舉進程的新聞記者一道，來到北維吉尼亞州，向選舉官員和選民了解他們的體驗。
維吉尼亞州福爾斯徹奇（Falls Church）705選區（Precinct 705）的首席選舉官羅伯特·曼斯克（Robert Mansker）很早就迷上了選舉工作。今年79歲的曼斯克在1952年還是一名高中生時，通過電視轉播觀看了一個政黨的全國代表大會，他至今都記得當時看到的情況。他說：「我坐在那裡被這種程序迷住了……我問自己，『誰會勝出？』」
星期二的初選是曼斯克作為工作人員參與的第33次選舉，而他的工作並不好做。他不僅必須熟知最新的選舉規則，而且還要加班加點。他在天亮之前就在被設為投票站的學校裡做好準備工作，一直到晚間投票結束後再把投票結果交到縣裡。曼斯克說：「平常對時事的興趣促使我一直回來工作。」
在超級星期二，選民來到設在維吉尼亞州麥克萊恩的蘭利高中（Langley High School）內的投票站。（State Dept./D.A. Peterson）哪一個黨？維吉尼亞州的民主黨初選是為了幫助該黨推選出參加11月總統大選的候選人。但由於維吉尼亞州是實行「開放式初選」的十幾個州之一，它允許像自稱是「溫和的共和黨人」的麥克萊恩（McLean）居民傑恩·錢伯斯（Jayne Chambers）這樣的選民為民主黨候選人投票。（這些州的選民可以在任何一黨的初選中投票。）
錢伯斯說：「在每次選舉中都參加投票具有重要意義，不論是初選、大選，還是地方社區委員會選舉，不論是什麼選舉。這是我們作為一名美國人的權利。」
選舉權
今年的選舉適逢美國憲法第19修正案給予婦女投票權100周年。81歲的安吉拉·科拉拉斯（Angela Kolaras）在談到這個重要的裡程碑時說：「我為能夠投票深感榮幸；我一直這麼覺得。」
非洲裔美國人在南北戰爭（Civil War）之後的重建（Reconstruction）時期在整個南方參加投票，人數眾多。他們的投票權於1870年在憲法第15修正案通過時得到確立。但有些州通過設置投票稅和識字測試等障礙來剝奪黑人選民的投票權。直到1965年《選舉權法案》（Voting Rights Act）通過，黑人選民才能全面行使他們的民主權利。
一位選民於超級星期二在維吉尼亞州福爾斯徹奇的格雷厄姆路小學（Graham Road Elementary School）裡投票（State Dept./D.A. Peterson）70歲的非洲裔美國婦女歐泊·艾略特（Opal Elliott）說：「對我來說，不投票是褻瀆神聖的。」她的父母是從開曼群島（Cayman Islands）來美國的。
黛博拉·利特曼（Deborah Litman）帶著她7歲的兒子賈登·費特爾-利特曼（Jaden Fetter-Litman）來到福爾斯徹奇的投票站。自從2016年的總統選舉以來，她一直帶著兒子一起參加投票，因為她想讓他知道投票的重要性。她說，每個人都有發言權，讓賈登從小就懂得這一點具有重要意義。她還說：「我們的確是最好的國家，因為我們有這種自由——所有這些自由——言論自由、投票自由。」
It was their 『duty』 to vote on Super TuesdayA polling place in Falls Church, Virginia, during the Super Tuesday U.S. presidential primary (State Dept./D.A. Peterson)On March 3, or Super Tuesday, when millions of voters in 14 U.S. states came to the polls, we were there too. Joining journalists from around the state of Virginia and around the world covering the U.S. presidential election process, we traveled to Northern Virginia and spoke to election officials and voters about their experiences.
Civic interest starts earlyRobert Mansker, chief election officer of Precinct 705 in Falls Church, Virginia, got hooked on election work early. As a high school student in 1952, he watched a party’s national convention on television and still remembers seeing how things played out. 「I sat there mesmerized by the process … and I said, 『Who’s going to win this?'」 says Mansker, 79.
Tuesday’s primary was the 33rd election Mansker worked, and his job isn’t an easy one. Not only is he required to stay current on election-process rules, but he works long hours. He sets the school up for the election before dawn and turns in the results to the county after the polls close in the evening. 「The interest in the issues at hand during the day keeps me coming back,」 Mansker says.
Super Tuesday voters check in with election workers at Langley High School in McLean, Virginia. (State Dept./D.A. Peterson)Which party?The Democratic primary in Virginia was held to help the party determine which Democrat will be the party’s candidate for president in November. But because Virginia is one of more than a dozen states with an 「open primary,」 it allows voters such as McLean resident Jayne Chambers, a self-described 「moderate Republican,」 to vote for a candidate on the Democratic slate. (In these states, a voter can vote in any primary.)
「It’s very important to vote in every election, whether it’s primary, general, local community council, whatever,」 Chambers says. 「That’s our right as an American.」
Voting rightsThis year’s elections come 100 years after the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote. 「I feel very honored that I can vote; I always have felt that way,」 says Angela Kolaras, 81, referencing the milestone.
African Americans voted in large numbers across the South during the era of Reconstruction following the Civil War, and their right to vote was codified in 1870, with ratification of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. But states found ways to disenfranchise black voters through obstacles such as poll taxes and literacy tests. It wasn’t until the 1965 Voting Rights Act that black voters were allowed to fully exercise their democratic rights.
A voter casts his ballot on Super Tuesday at Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia. (State Dept./D.A. Peterson)「For me not to [vote] would be sacrilegious,」 says Opal Elliott, 70, an African American woman whose parents came to the United States from the Cayman Islands.
Deborah Litman hit the polls in Falls Church with her 7-year-old son, Jaden Fetter-Litman, in tow. She has brought him with her when she has voted since the 2016 presidential election because she wants him to understand how important it is to vote. Everybody has a voice, and it’s important for Jaden to learn that early, she says. 「We’re really the best country because we have this freedom — all these freedoms — freedom of speech, freedom to vote,」 Litman says.