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Green Party Campaign Wants Judge To Order Recount, Forensic Audit Of PA Voting Machines

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Attorneys for Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein have filed for emergency relief in federal court in Philadelphia, demanding a statewide recount of the recent election, on constitutional grounds.

Counsel for Jill Stein want a federal court judge to call for an immediate recount of paper ballots in optical scan counties, as well as a forensic audit of a "reasonable sample of DRE voting systems." Those are the electronic devices used to record votes in the Commonwealth, including Philadelphia.

ilan-maazel-counsel-for-jill-stein-recount-campaign
Ilan Maazel, counsel for Jill Stein Recount Campaign. (credit: Steve Tawa)

Attorney Ilann Maazel calls the Pennsylvania election system "a disgrace." He says voting machines are "electoral black sites: no one permits voters or candidates to examine them."

"This is an election in which we use machines that are vulnerable; we've had foreign interference in this election, there's a lot of concern out there that votes are not being counted properly. So, we want to get to the truth."

In his words, "we want to make sure every single vote is counted and counted accurately."

"DRE machines are easier to hack than an iPhone, which is crazy."

The Green Party backed campaign is also appealing in state court the decision in Philadelphia by the City Commissioners to reject its request for a forensic examination of the city's voting machines.

Meantime, at the Philadelphia Board of Elections, the limited recount of 75 divisions sought by the Jill Stein camp has been completed, and Hillary Clinton gained five votes. City Commissioner Al Schimdt notes there were NO changes on voting machines.

Clinton gained five votes after a manual recount/recanvass of the absentee and provisional ballots, compared to the original computation.

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