Recount given the OK in Wisconsin
Second federal judge considers Pennsylvania case
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge allowed Wisconsin’s presidential recount to move forward Friday as a another federal judge in Pennsylvania planned to take the weekend to decide on a Green Partybacked request to recount paper ballots and examine election computer systems for signs of hacking.
U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia said he will rule Monday on the recount bid by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein in Pennsylvania, where Republican Donald Trump won, beating Democrat Hillary Clinton by about 44,000 votes.
Stein, who finished far behind Trump and Clinton, is seeking a recount of potentially more than 1 million paper ballots and a forensic examination of election system software in six large counties, including Philadelphia, that use different kinds of paperless electronic voting machines.
Stein’s lawyers argue it’s possible computer hacking occurred in a plot to change the outcome of the election and Pennsylvania’s heavy use of paperless machines make it a prime target. Stein also contends Pennsylvania has erected unconstitutional barriers to voters seeking a recount.
“The average voter in Pennsylvania has had to go through incredible lengths in order to have the assurance that their vote is being counted and being counted accurately,” Stein said.
Still, opponents, including Trump and the state attorney general’s office, counter that no such evidence of hacking has been presented and that Stein has no standing to seek a recount because she can’t win the election.
Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor Michael Shamos, who tests voting machines, testified for the Pennsylvania Department of State that the chance of hacking was about as likely as “androids from outer space living among us.”
However, Diamond asked for estimates on how long a partial recount of about 20,000 paper ballots in perhaps a dozen counties and an examination of the hard drives from a sampling of paperless electronic voting machines might take. A hand recount of the paper ballots in each of the counties could happen over one long day, while examining hard drives might take two days, University of Michigan computer scientist Alex Halderman testified.
Still, Diamond raised concerns about the possibility of disenfranchising all 6 million Pennsylvania voters if the election is not certified by Tuesday’s deadline. He scolded Green Party lawyers for their timing: “You sat on your rights for three weeks now ... and now (have caused) a judicial fire drill.”