On December 19, 538 electors will meet at statehouses across the country. They will mark their own ballots to officially choose the 45th president of the United States. The electors are members of the Electoral College.
12月9日，538名选举人将在全国各地的州议会大楼开会。他们将投出自己的选票，正式选出第45任美国总统。这些选举人都是选举团成员。
The meeting of the electors usually receives little attention. But this year, opponents of President-elect Donald Trump have tried to urge the Electoral College to deny him the presidency.
选举人会议通常很少受到关注。但是今年，候任总统川普的反对者试图督促选举团不要选他做总统。
Forming the Electoral College
组成选举团
In the late 1700s, some founders of the United States wanted members of Congress to be able to choose the president. They did not trust that voters would always make a good choice.
在18世纪末，一些美国的缔造者希望国会议员能够选出总统，他们不相信选民总是会做出最好的选择。
Others wanted voters to directly decide.
另一些人则希望选民直接决定。
So, as a compromise, the founders created a system they called the Electoral College. Members meet after the election to formally choose the president. Electors normally mark their ballots for the candidate who won the popular vote in their state. But the system does permit electors to vote for someone else.
因此，作为妥协，这些缔造者创造了一种被称之为选举团的制度。选举团成员在大选后开会正式选出总统。选举人通常会投票给赢得该州大选的候选人，但是该制度允许选举人投票给其他人。
The number of electors for each state is equal to its members of Congress. This means states with bigger populations have more electors and states with lower populations have fewer.
各州选举人数量等同于该州国会议员人数。这意味着人口更多的州有更多选举人，人口较少的州则较少。
The Electoral College system can create a situation in which a candidate wins more popular votes nationwide, but still loses the election.
选举团制度会导致一种情况，那就是在全国范围内赢得更多选票的候选人却输掉大选。
Before the 2016 election, that had happened only four times in American history.
在2016年大选前，这种情况在美国历史上仅发生过四次。
Some Voters Hope for "Faithless Electors"
一些选民寄希望于“失信选举人”
This November, 65.7 million people voted for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump received 62.9 million votes.
今年11月，有6570万人投票给了希拉里，川普则赢得了6290万票。
But Trump won the presidency because he won the most electoral votes.
但是川普赢得了总统任期，因为他赢得了更多选举人票。
If Trump receives all of the electoral votes on Monday from the states where he won the popular vote, he will have 306. The winning candidate must have at least 270 electoral votes. That is the majority of the 538 total votes. Although Hillary Clinton won more votes nationally, she only won 232 electoral votes.
如果周一川普赢得所有他大选获胜州的选举人票，他就将获得306票 。获胜候选人至少需要270张选举人票，也就是总计538张票数中的大多数。虽然希拉里在全国获得更多选票，但是她只有232张选举人票。
For the results of the election to change, 37 Republican electors would have to vote against their states' voters and choose Clinton instead of Trump. That would make them "faithless electors."
要改变大选结果，必须有37位共和党选举人违逆他所在州的选民，投票给希拉里而不是川普。这就会让他们成为失信选举人。
Experts say that is unlikely to happen.
专家表示这不太可能发生。
Only one Republican elector has publicly said he will not vote for Trump. That elector is Christopher Suprun. He lives in Dallas, Texas. He told VOA that he believes Trump is not qualified to be president. He is also worried that Trump will be more loyal to his many businesses than to the country.
只有一位选举人公开表示不会投票给川普。这位选举人就是居住在德克萨斯州达拉斯市的克里斯托弗·苏普伦（Christopher Suprun）。他对美国之音表示，他认为川普没有资格担任总统。他还担心川普更忠于自己的生意而不是这个国家。
Lawrence Lessig is a professor of constitutional law at Harvard University. Earlier this week, he said, as many as 20 Republican electors were considering not voting for Trump. But that could not be confirmed.
劳伦斯·莱斯格（Lawrence Lessig）是哈佛大学的宪法学教授。本周早些时候，他说有多达20名共和党选举人正在考虑不给川普投票。但是这点并未得到证实。
There is no federal law that requires the electors to vote for the candidate who received the most votes in their state. But 29 states and the District of Columbia have laws that control how electors vote. However, many constitutional lawyers do not believe those laws can be enforced.
联邦法律并不要求选举人投票给赢得他们所在州大选的候选人。但是在29个州以及哥伦比亚特区有法律控制选举人投票。然而，很多宪法律师并不认为这些法律可以执行。
Larry Tribe is also a professor at Harvard Law School. He says it is not likely that Trump will lose in the Electoral College. But he says electors, in his words, "have a responsibility to the country and the Constitution, in extreme enough situations. And I think this is a pretty extreme situation."
拉里·泰伯(Larry Tribe)也是哈佛法学院的教授。他说川普不可能在选举团失败。但是他表示，选举人在极端情况下对国家和宪法负有责任，而他认为现在就是极度极端的情况。
A group that calls itself the Hamilton Electors is working to urge electors not to vote for Trump. The group is named for Alexander Hamilton, one of the founders of the United States. He was also one of the main founders of the Electoral College.
一家自称为哈密尔顿选举人的团体正致力于督促选举人不要投票给川普。该组织以美国缔造者亚历山大·汉密尔顿（Alexander Hamilton）的名字命名。汉密尔顿也是选举团制度的主要创始人之一。
The group notes that the founders designed the system to keep someone unfit for the presidency from taking office.
该组织指出，这些缔造者设计这一制度是为了防止不适宜担任总统者上任。
The group wrote on its website that it honors "Alexander Hamilton's vision that the Electoral College should, when necessary, act as a Constitutional fail-safe against those lacking the qualifications from becoming president."
该组织在其官方网站上称它尊重汉密尔顿的观点，认为选举团在必要时应该作为宪法的失效保障来反对那些无资格成为总统者。
Others believe electors should change their votes because of recent intelligence reports. They suggest that the Russian government stole information from computers of some Democratic Party officials.
其他人则认为，由于最近的情报报告，选举人应该改变他们的投票。他们提出俄罗斯政府从一些民主党官员的电脑中窃取了信息。
The reports say the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) believes Russia did so to help Trump win the election. On Friday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it supported the CIA's findings.
报告称，中央情报局认为俄罗斯这样做以帮助川普赢得选举。周五，联邦调查局表示支持中央情报局的调查结果。
Trump has dismissed the CIA report. He says there is no evidence that Russia was involved in the hacking.
川普驳回了中央情报局的报告。他说没有证据表明俄罗斯参与了黑客攻击。
But a growing number of electors are worried that Russia did try to help Trump win. At least 67 electors have asked for information from the intelligence community about the suspected Russian activities before they vote on Monday.
但是越来越多选举人担心俄罗斯确实试图帮助川普获胜。至少有67名选举人要求在星期一投票前从情报机构获得关于俄罗斯疑似活动的信息。
All but one of those electors are Democrats. Experts say this shows that the campaign to convince Republican electors not to vote for Trump has failed.
但是这些选举人除一人之外都是民主党。专家表示，这表明说服共和党不要给川普投票的运动失败了。
I'm Caty Weaver.
我是卡蒂·韦弗。