2020年的完整性选举可能会因为COVID-19大流行据一位著名的网络安全专家说。
美国国土安全部网络安全和基础设施安全局局长克里斯托弗·克雷布斯(Christopher Krebs)周五表示，越来越依赖邮寄和缺席投票，这可能是因祸得福。他说，纸质记录对选举安全至关重要，因为它们会带来可审计性。
克雷布斯说:“可审核性是能够决定投票的完整性的一个关键因素。”“要让它倒过来，请确保您得到了正确的结果，而且最重要的是，通过选举后的审核过程来证明，所投的票被视为已投。”
克雷布斯是在华盛顿智库布鲁金斯学会主办的一个关于选举安全的在线论坛上发表上述言论的。他说，在2016年的选举中，大约82%的投票都有书面记录。展望11月4日，他说这个数字可能会超过92%，因为预计与COVID相关的缺席投票会增加。
他补充说:“同样，进行选举后审计的能力对于确立选举的公正性至关重要。”
2019年5月22日，星期三，在众议院监督和改革国家安全小组委员会关于“保障美国选举基础设施和保护政治言论”的听证会之前，美国国家安全事务副助理司法部长亚当·希基(右)和国土安全部网络安全和基础设施安全局局长克里斯托弗·克莱伯斯(Christopher Krebs)在华盛顿国会山作证前进行了交谈。卡罗琳·卡斯特/美联社，档案
唐纳德·特朗普总统最近几周例行公事地抨击邮寄投票，声称这将在没有提供太多证据的情况下增加选民欺诈。
特朗普在周二的玫瑰园新闻发布会上表示:“如果你邮寄选票，你将面临巨大的欺诈。”“现在，缺席投票是可以的，因为缺席投票，你必须得到申请，你必须通过一个过程。”
接受美国广播公司采访的美国各地选举官员不同意邮寄选票对选举的公正性是一种威胁。
克雷布斯说，CISA已经采取了许多措施来改善选举数据库的“网络卫生”，包括确保每个州的选举网络都有入侵检测传感器。他说佛罗里达的67个县都装备了这些传感器。
他补充说:“我们在整个选举基础设施领域比任何其他领域都有最好的全面能见度，因此，如果部队发生地震，我们会感觉到，我们可以采取行动。”
克雷布斯说，与2016年的情况相比，“我们没有看到来自对手的协调一致的网络活动。”
尽管如此，他补充道，“我们在这里不是在欺骗自己——有些坏人想做坏事。”
2020年6月30日，纽约州奥尔巴尼市奥尔巴尼县选举委员会，等待统计的缺席选票箱汉斯·潘宁克/美联社
“俄罗斯想要破坏稳定，中国想要一个更顺从的国家，而伊朗可能两者都想要，所以我们要做好准备。”我们已经加强了防御，并为此做好了准备。”
前国家安全委员会官员菲奥娜·希尔在特朗普弹劾听证会上作证主持Krebs发言的小组讨论。希尔强调，低投票率也是对选举公正性的威胁，投票是每个美国公民的特权。
她说:“这是我们作为美国公民的基本代理行为。”“每个人都应该站出来投票，尽自己的一份力量。”
Increase in mail-in ballots due to COVID has created greater election integrity, government official says
The integrity of the 2020electionmay be improved as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic, according to a leading cybersecurity expert.
Christopher Krebs, director of the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said Friday an increased reliance on mail-in and absentee ballots, which have a paper record associated with them, may be a blessing in disguise. Paper records, he said, are critical to election security because they lead to auditability.
"Auditability is a key element of being able to determine the integrity of a vote," Krebs said. "To roll it back, make sure you got the right results, and, more than anything proving, through a post-election audit process, that the votes cast are counted as cast."
Krebs spoke as part of an online forum on election security hosted by the Brookings Institution, a think-tank based in Washington, D.C. He said that in the 2016 election, around 82% of votes cast had a paper record associated with them. Looking ahead to Nov. 4, he said that figure may be over 92% due to the expected increase in COVID-related absentee ballots.
"Again, the ability to conduct post-election audits is critical to establishing the integrity of the election," he added.
President Donald Trump has routinely panned mail-in voting in recent weeks, claiming it will increase voter fraud without providing much evidence.
"You'll have tremendous fraud if you do these mail-in ballots," Trump said in a Rose Garden press conference Tuesday. "Now, absentee ballots are OK, because absentee ballots, you have to get applications, you have to go through a process."
Election officials across the U.S. interviewed by ABC News havedisagreedwith mail-in ballots being a risk to election integrity.
Krebs said CISA has taken a number of measures to improve the "cyber hygiene" of election databases, including ensuring that every single state election network has intrusion-detection sensors. He said all 67 counties in Florida were equipped with these sensors.
"We have the best comprehensive visibility across the election infrastructure sector than any other sector, so if there is a tremor out there in the force, we will feel it and we can act on it," he added.
Krebs said that compared to where things were in 2016, "we are not seeing that level of coordinated determined cyber activity from adversaries."
Notwithstanding that, he added, "We are not fooling ourselves here -- there are bad guys that want to do bad things."
"Russia wants to destabilize, China wants a more compliant state and Iran probably wants a little bit of both, so we are going to be prepared. We have got the defenses up, and we are ready for it," he said.
Fiona Hill, the former National Security Council official whotestified at the Trump impeachment hearings, moderated the panel in which Krebs spoke. Hill emphasized that low turnout was also a threat to election integrity and that voting was a privilege afforded to every American citizen.
"This is the fundamental act of agency that we all have as citizens in the U.S.," she said. "Everybody should really get out there and vote and do their part."
