2026-05-22T10:03:22.622Z / 路透社
华盛顿5月22日电（路透社）——据两名直接知情人士透露，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的选举安全事务专员去年曾试图推动禁用全美超过一半州使用的投票机，方式是请求商务部认定这些机器的组件构成国家安全风险。
特朗普任命的律师、白宫顾问库尔特·奥尔森（Kurt Olsen）的任务是证实早已被驳斥的选举舞弊阴谋论，他推动了针对多米尼恩投票系统（Dominion Voting Systems）机器的计划。消息人士称，这一想法的提出背景是奥尔森与其他官员在研讨联邦政府如何从各州手中接管选举管理权——这也是特朗普曾公开宣扬的主张。
消息人士透露，奥尔森希望推行全国性的手工计票纸质选票制度，这是特朗普的一贯诉求之一，但多位选举安全专家表示，这种制度不如当前绝大多数城市和州使用的、可审计纸质追踪的投票系统准确，且潜在风险更高。
此次为路透社首次报道的禁用投票机计划，推进程度一度颇深：商务部官员在去年9月开始探讨可援引何种依据来实施这一禁令，另有三名消息人士证实了这一点。不过，两名消息人士表示，该计划最终夭折，原因是奥尔森和其他参与此事的政府工作人员未能提供证明此举合理性的证据。
这一事件是特朗普政府大幅侵蚀州和地方政府选举管理权行动的一部分——美国宪法将选举管理权授予州和地方政府，以防止行政部门篡权。奥尔森正与美国顶级情报和执法机构合作，追查所谓的选举舞弊指控。
本月早些时候的路透社调查发现，至少八个州的政府官员和调查人员一直在索要机密记录、要求获取投票设备，并重新审查已被法院和两党审查驳回的选民欺诈案件。特朗普及其共和党盟友还在推进前所未有的计划，提前重新划分选举选区，以便在11月的国会中期选举中占据优势。
两名消息人士称，奥尔森所在部门正寻求将其罢免，他曾试图在中期选举前认定多米尼恩投票机无效。
另一名直接知情人士透露，参与此次审议的还包括特朗普的情报局长图尔西·加巴德（Tulsi Gabbard）的高级助手保罗·麦克纳马拉（Paul McNamara），以及特朗普国内政策委员会特别助理布莱恩·西克马（Brian Sikma）。奥尔森一直与加巴德领导的国家情报总监办公室（ODNI）密切合作。
去年初夏，麦克纳马拉曾要求商务部官员考虑将多米尼恩的芯片和软件认定为国家安全风险，两名消息人士称。
当时，麦克纳马拉领导着国家情报总监办公室的一个工作组，与政府各部门官员合作调查美国投票机的漏洞。两名消息人士表示，麦克纳马拉曾就此问题与美国商务部高级官员进行过交谈，该部门由部长霍华德·卢特尼克（Howard Lutnick）负责。
路透社无法确定卢特尼克是否参与或知晓这些讨论。
商务部发言人表示，卢特尼克从未与麦克纳马拉会面或讨论过选举诚信问题，完全没有涉及这一话题。该发言人拒绝就卢特尼克的办公室或其他官员是否参与其中置评。
奥尔森、麦克纳马拉和西克马均未回复采访请求。
对更多选举混乱的担忧
民主党人和选举诚信专家担忧，鉴于共和党预计将在中期选举中失利，本届政府旨在压制投票，并为通过更多毫无根据的选举欺诈指控质疑选举结果铺平道路。
美国选举援助委员会去年表示，全美超过98%的选举辖区已经为每张选票配备纸质记录。这些选票大多使用打印纸质记录的投票机，或是手工填写后由电子阅读器计数的选票。选举安全专家普遍支持当前技术与纸质选票相结合的模式，这种模式可为选举后审计提供选民可核查的追踪记录。
密歇根大学计算机科学教授亚历克斯·霍尔德曼（Alex Halderman）表示，支持手工填写、手工计票选票的人士认为这种方式可以消除黑客攻击隐患，但也会带来其他风险，包括计票错误和票箱 stuffing（注：原文为ballot-box stuffing，中文通常译为“票箱填塞”，指选举舞弊行为）。
“改用手工计票会引发混乱，”他说，“甚至可能助长作弊行为。”
白宫发言人戴维斯·英格尔（Davis Ingle）称此次报道是选择性泄露，并将其称为虚假信息。
加巴德所在机构的发言人奥利维亚·科尔曼（Olivia Coleman）表示，这篇报道对该机构在选举安全方面的工作存在“不准确和虚假描述”，但未详细说明。
追查投票机中“外国对手”痕迹
美国供应链规则赋予商务部长限制与被列为“外国对手”国家的科技公司交易的权力，这些国家包括中国、俄罗斯，以及美国军方今年1月推翻的委内瑞拉前总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗（Nicolas Maduro）政府。
两名消息人士称，奥尔森寻找外国黑客证据的主要目标，是早已被驳斥的阴谋论：即多米尼恩投票机被植入由委内瑞拉方面控制的代码，目的是在2020年大选中窃取特朗普的胜果。
自2020年以来，多次调查和诉讼均未发现多米尼恩投票机遭黑客攻击的证据。2023年，福克斯新闻因虚假选举舞弊指控向多米尼恩支付7.87亿美元和解金。
2024年，至少27个州使用了多米尼恩投票机，数量与2020年大致相当。总部位于丹佛的多米尼恩公司于去年10月被科罗拉多州的Liberty Vote USA收购。
然而特朗普仍在反复宣扬这些指控，最近一次是在5月12日，他转发了极右翼新闻网络“美国第一新闻台”一名主持人六年前的一段视频，该主持人在视频中谎称多米尼恩投票机删除了数百万张选票。
2025年5月，奥尔森牵头执行了一项联邦任务，收缴了波多黎各2024年州长选举使用的多米尼恩投票机。同年夏天晚些时候，网络承包商莫哈韦研究公司（Mojave Research Inc.）对这些机器进行的分析发现了一些已知漏洞，但未发现委内瑞拉起源的代码或黑客攻击证据。
两名消息人士称，就在麦克纳马拉与商务部官员交谈前后，奥尔森的团队拆解了部分波多黎各的投票机，认为会发现由被列为外国对手国家制造的组件。
团队发现一枚芯片由美国英特尔公司在中国大陆封装。这类芯片通常不被视为对美国国家安全构成威胁。其他芯片则分别在日本、韩国和马来西亚封装，两名消息人士表示。他们称，奥尔森关于此次拆解的报告将这些芯片描述为“东亚产”，认为这是为了掩盖未发现任何安全风险的事实。
两名消息人士称，去年9月召开的讨论投票机问题的白宫会议有国家安全委员会的网络专家参与。该小组包括奥尔森的团队，讨论了多米尼恩的设备是否含有委内瑞拉代码的痕迹。
会议结束后，商务部一名政治任命官员要求该部门负责评估科技供应链外国国家安全风险的办公室，考虑应对投票机可能带来的任何风险的方案，另有三名消息人士证实了这一点。
两名消息人士称，该办公室研究了此事，但未采取任何行动。
路透社华盛顿记者艾琳·班科、乔纳森·兰迪、亚历山德拉·阿尔珀报道；菲尔·斯图尔特补充报道；弗兰克·杰克·丹尼尔、唐·德福编辑
Exclusive: Trump officials tried to ban half of U.S. voting machines, citing conspiracy theories
2026-05-22T10:03:22.622Z / Reuters
WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s election-security czar last year sought to ban voting machines used in more than half of U.S. states by asking whether the Commerce Department could declare their components national-security risks, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
White House adviser Kurt Olsen, a lawyer Trump has tasked with proving widely debunked election-rigging conspiracy theories, pushed the plan to target Dominion Voting Systems machines. The idea emerged, the sources said, as Olsen and other officials brainstormed about how the federal government could take control over elections from U.S. states, an idea publicly aired by Trump.
Olsen wanted a national system of hand-counted paper ballots, the sources said, a frequent Trump demand some election-security experts say would be less accurate and potentially riskier than the current system of machines with auditable paper trails that almost all cities and states use.
The plan to exclude the machines, reported here first, got far enough that in September, Commerce Department officials began exploring what grounds could be invoked to execute it, three additional sources said. It eventually collapsed, however, because Olsen and other administration staffers working with him failed to provide evidence to justify such a move, two of the sources said.
The episode is part of a far-reaching Trump administration push to encroach on state and local governments’ authority to run elections – which is granted to them in the U.S. Constitution to prevent the executive branch from seizing power. Olsen is working with the nation’s top intelligence and law enforcement agencies to chase voting-rigging claims.
A Reuters investigation earlier this month found administration officials and investigators in at least eight states have sought confidential records, pressed for access to voting equipment and re-examined voter-fraud cases that courts and bipartisan reviews have rejected. Trump and Republican allies are also pursuing unprecedented plans to redraw election districts earlier than usual to secure advantages in the November midterm congressional elections.
Olsen, who Democratic senators are seeking to remove from his post, aimed to invalidate Dominion voting machines before the midterms, the two sources said.
Others involved in the deliberations included Paul McNamara, a senior aide of Trump’s spy chief Tulsi Gabbard, and Brian Sikma, a special assistant to Trump who works on his Domestic Policy Council, according to one of the two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Olsen has worked closely with Gabbard’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
Early last summer, McNamara asked officials in the Commerce Department to consider the potential designation of Dominion chips and software as a national security risk, the two sources said.
At the time, McNamara headed an ODNI task force that worked with officials across the administration to investigate vulnerabilities in the nation’s voting machines. The two sources said McNamara spoke about the issue to senior officials at the U.S. Commerce Department, which is run by Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Reuters could not determine whether Lutnick was involved in or aware of those discussions.
A Commerce Department spokesperson said Lutnick never met or discussed election-integrity issues with McNamara and did not “engage in the topic at all.” The spokesperson declined to comment on whether Lutnick’s office or other officials were involved.
Olsen, McNamara and Sikma did not respond to requests for interviews.
WORRIES ABOUT MORE ELECTION CHAOS
Democrats and election-integrity experts worry that, with Republicans expected to suffer losses in the midterms, the administration aims to suppress voting and pave the way to challenge losses with more baseless claims of election fraud.
More than 98% of U.S. election jurisdictions already produce a paper record for every vote, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission said last year. Those votes are mostly cast on machines that print a paper record, or hand-marked but counted by electronic readers. Election-security experts broadly support the current combination of technology and paper ballots, which provides a voter-verified trail for post-election audits.
Proponents of hand-marked, hand-counted ballots argue they eliminate hacking concerns. But they pose different risks, said Alex Halderman, a University of Michigan computer-science professor, including counting mistakes and ballot-box stuffing.
“Changing to hand counting would be chaotic,” he said, “and it might facilitate cheating.”
White House spokesman Davis Ingle characterized the reporting for this story as selectively leaked and called it misinformation.
Olivia Coleman, a spokesperson for Gabbard’s agency, said the story contained “inaccuracies and false descriptions” of the agency’s work on election security, without elaborating.
SCOURING VOTING MACHINES FOR TRACES OF ‘FOREIGN ADVERSARIES’
U.S. supply chain rules give the commerce secretary powers to restrict transactions with technology companies from nations designated “foreign adversaries,” including China, Russia, and, specifically, the government of Venezuela’s former President Nicolas Maduro, who the U.S. military unseated from power in January.
A main focus of Olsen’s efforts to find evidence of foreign hacking is the debunked theory that Dominion machines were infected with code controlled by Venezuelans to steal the 2020 election from Trump, the two sources said.
Repeated investigations and lawsuits since 2020 have produced no evidence Dominion machines were hacked. In 2023, Fox News paid Dominion $787 million in a defamation case over false election-rigging claims.
In 2024, at least 27 states used Dominion machines, similar to the number in 2020. Denver-based Dominion was purchased last October by Liberty Vote USA of Colorado.
Yet Trump continues to repeat the allegations, most recently on May 12 when he reposted a six-year-old clip of a host on the far-right One America News network making the false claim that Dominion machines deleted millions of votes.
In May, 2025, Olsen helped lead a federal mission that seized Dominion machines that Puerto Rico used in its 2024 gubernatorial election. An analysis of the machines by cyber contractor Mojave Research Inc. produced later that summer found some known-about vulnerabilities, but no Venezuelan-origin code or evidence of hacking.
Around the time McNamara’s conversation took place with Commerce Department officials, Olsen’s team took apart some of the Puerto Rico machines, believing that they would find components manufactured by countries designated as foreign adversaries, the two sources said.
The team found one chip packaged in China by U.S. company Intel. Such chips are not generally considered a threat to U.S. national security. Other chips were packaged in Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, the two sources said. Olsen’s report on the teardown, they said, described the chips as ‘East Asian,’ which they believe was intended to obscure the failure to find any security risks.
A September White House meeting convened to discuss the machines included cyber experts at the National Security Council, two of the sources said. The group, which included Olsen’s team, discussed whether Dominion’s equipment contained traces of Venezuelan code, one of the sources said.
Following the meeting, a Commerce Department political appointee asked the department’s office that assesses foreign national-security risks to tech supply chains to consider options to address any risks posed by voting machines, according to the three additional sources.
The office considered the matter but took no action, two of the sources said.
Reporting by Erin Banco, Jonathan Landay and Alexandra Alper in Washington; Additional reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Don Durfee
