Whistleblower Warns of Problems with New Mail Ballot System
Listen to the story
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public about a problem in a company or government. A whistleblower has warned about the US Postal Service. The Postal Service is the government mail company in the US. The whistleblower says there is a new system for mail ballots. Mail ballots are votes that people send by mail. The whistleblower says this new system has "potentially catastrophic problems." This means the problems could be very bad.
Rep. Bennie Thompson is a lawmaker. A lawmaker is a person who makes laws for the country. Thompson says former President Trump is "creating confusion." Confusion means people do not understand what is true. Thompson's comment is about the whistleblower's report.
The whistleblower's report is about a plan connected to Trump. The plan is about mail-in voting. Voting is when people choose their leaders. The Postal Service says it is "carefully reviewing" the whistleblower's claim. A claim is something a person says is true. "Carefully reviewing" means they are checking it in detail before they answer.
Vocabulary15 words
- whistleblower
- a person who tells others about a hidden problem
- Postal Service
- the government company that delivers mail
- mail ballots
- votes sent by mail instead of in person
- lawmaker
- a person who helps make laws
- voting
- choosing a leader or decision
- claim
- something a person says is true
- catastrophic
- very, very bad
- confusion
- not understanding what is true
- system
- a planned way of doing something
- review
- to check something carefully
- report
- information given about a problem
- warn
- to tell people about danger
- plan
- an idea for doing something
- government
- the group that runs a country
- public
- all the people
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Quiz
Answer key
1. A whistleblower 2. Creating confusion 3. True
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Fill-in-the-blank listening
Play the audio again and fill in the missing words as you listen.
A _____ has warned about the US Postal Service.
The whistleblower says there is a new system for mail _____.
The whistleblower says this system has "potentially _____ problems."
Rep. Bennie Thompson is a _____.
Thompson says Trump is "creating _____."
The report is about a plan connected to Trump about mail-in _____.
The Postal Service says it is "carefully _____" the claim.
A _____ is something a person says is true.
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