提前投票点上谈气候：海伦飓风两年后北卡选民仍在等长期方案
10月23日，北卡罗来纳州公共广播与非营利环境媒体 Grist 合作发表的选举报道，把镜头对准了正在提前投票的西卡罗来纳山区。午餐时间，海伍德县公共图书馆里挤满了来自坎顿及周边地区前来提前投票的选民。民主党选民、坎顿居民玛吉·潘瑟刚投完票，她说自己至今记得海伦飓风过后政客们前来拍照的情景，但他们几乎没有拿出长期解决方案，所以气候变化是她投票时放在心上的议题。报道指出，海伦飓风已过去两年，但这场风暴的阴影仍笼罩着中期选举：西卡罗来纳近年来接连遭遇2021年的弗雷德飓风、持续干旱和野火，再到海伦飓风，反复发生的洪水甚至动摇了一些一贯投共和党的选民。共和党选民桑德拉·穆迪说，这些本应是“五百年一遇 ”的洪水却一再发生，让人忍不住要问到底发生了什么。报道同时指出，尽管许多选民心里惦记着天气变化，气候议题却并不总是竞选辩论的正式话题。北卡提前投票将持续至10月31日，正式投票日为 11月3日。
Talking Climate at the Early Voting Line: Two Years After Helene, North Carolina Voters Still Await Long-Term Answers
An Oct. 23 election report by North Carolina public radio in partnership with the nonprofit environmental outlet Grist focused on early voters in the western North Carolina mountains. At lunchtime, the Haywood County Public Library was packed with voters from Canton and surrounding areas casting early ballots. Maggie Panther, a Democratic voter from Canton, said after voting that she still remembers politicians coming to pose for photos after Hurricane Helene but offering almost no long-term solutions, so climate change was on her mind as she voted. The report noted that two years after Helene, the storm's shadow still hangs over the midterm election: western North Carolina has in recent years endured Hurricane Fred in 2021, persistent drought and wildfires, and then Helene, and the repeated flooding has shaken even some habitual Republican voters. Republican voter Sandra Moody said floods that are supposed to happen once in 500 years keep recurring, making people ask what is going on. The report also noted that although many voters are thinking about the changing weather, climate is not always a formal topic in campaign debates. Early voting in North Carolina runs through Oct. 31, with Election Day on Nov. 3.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：阿什维尔市中心（资料图）。照片：Wikimedia Commons（CC BY-SA 3.0）。downtown Asheville (file photo). Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
