In an election campaign in which technology has played an unprecedented role, computers are once again at the forefront of a controversy over the 2016 U.S. Presidential race. Green Party candidate Jill Stein has filed legal papers alleging that the voting machines in Pennsylvania may have been hacked, requesting a statewide recount as a result.
Hacked Voting Machines In 2016 U.S. Presidential Election?
Several weeks after the election, there are still many Americans who refuse to accept the results. One of them is Stein, who has already formally demanded recounts in the states of Michigan and Wisconsin.
Although Stein missed the deadlines to request a formal recount in Pennsylvania, she has filed a lawsuit instead, asking the courts to order one based on allegations of hacked voting machines made recently by a team of scientists who analyzed the voting results. The scientists found that Donald Trump's margin over main competitor Hillary Clinton in counties that used electronic voting was 7 percent greater than that in counties using paper ballots.
Recount Wanted In Order To Build Trust In U.S. Election System
"Americans deserve a voting system we can trust," argued Stein.
"After a presidential election tarnished by the use of outdated and unreliable machines and accusations of irregularities and hacks, people of all political persuasions are asking if our election results are reliable. We must recount the votes so we can build trust in our election system."
President-Elect Trump Tweets Recount Is A Scam
President-Elect Trump blasted Stein's efforts in a Tweet, which stated that the move was a "scam" by The Green Party "to fill up their coffers by asking for impossible recounts is now being joined by the badly defeated & demoralized Dems."
Is Clinton Behind The Recount?
Some Republicans are suggesting that Clinton's camp is really behind the effort and is using Stein's campaign as a front in a last-ditch effort to challenge the election results. Stein only received a tiny percentage of the overall votes in each of the three states in which she is challenging, so there is no possibility that she herself would be declared the victor, while Clinton, whose margin of loss was small in all three states, would be the only realistic beneficiary of a recount.
Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias has pledged participation "to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides."
Stein is also suing to force all Wisconsin counties to do a hand recount of ballots after that state refused her request, stating that it would be left up to the individual counties to decide whether or not to do a hand recount. Stein did make the deadline to request a formal recount in that state, which has also acknowledged that she has provided the required funds to pay for the process.
