美国选举安全问题:以2016年和2020年总统大选为例

2016年美国总统大选暴露了长期存在于该国选举体系中的风险,"选举安全"迅速成为当代美国国家安全与国土安全领域的重要议题。美国选举安全涉及网络安全、社会安全、政治安全与军事安全,体现出"复合安全问题"的特质。美国联邦与各州政府试图从降低关键基础设施风险、重建选民信任、减少部门壁垒以及填补机制缺失四个层面入手,系统性化解存在于选举系统的各类安全威胁。2020年美国大选期间,原有选举安全风险得到一定程度的缓解,但美国国家安全体制及文化与其选举安全体系的运行逻辑之间仍存在多层矛盾,特别是美国选举体系的产业市场与创新之间的矛盾、国家安全与"言论自由"之间的矛盾、"全政府"与"地方权"之间的矛盾、"网络自由"与"网络主权"之间的矛盾。这些矛盾会长期存在,将使利益攸关方不断发生龃龉,阻碍相关政策深入推进,最终导致美国在选举安全治理上将一直面临难以克服的困境。

Security Issues in the US Elections: A Case Study of the 2016 and 2020 Presidential Election

The long-standing vulnerability in the US electoral system was exposed in the 2016 presidential election.As an"integrated security issue",election security has rapidly developed into an important topic in the US national and homeland security domains which encompasses cybersecurity,political security,social security and military security.The US federal and state governments have been endeavoring to systematically reduce all kinds of security threats in the US electoral system by way of reducing key infrastructure risks,rebuilding voter trust,dissolving administrative barriers and filling mechanism gaps.In the 2020 presidential election,risks relating to election security have been largely mitigated.However,multi-layered contradictions will continue to persist between the US national security mechanism and the operation logic in the US election security system.Such contradictions are particularly demonstrated in the relations between the"industrial market"and the"innovation market",between"national security"and"freedom of speech",between the"whole government"and the"local power",and between"cyber freedom"and"cyber sovereignty".These irreconcilable contradictions will trigger a discord among stakeholders,hinder the deepened implementation of relevant policies and eventually plunge the US government into an insurmountable dilemma of election security governance.