Philly court rejects Stein’s request for voting machines analysis

The push for a recount in swing states including Pennsylvania led by former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein took another blow Wednesday.

A Philadelphia city judge denied the party’s requests for “a full forensic analysis of voting machines and their software,” a spokesman for Stein’s recount effort announced.

Stein made the request because, as shepreviously told PBS Newshour, she believes “this was an election in which we saw hacking all over the place.”

A representative of her recount effort, which was started after Donald Trump won the presidency, cast doubt on election results in Philadelphia.

“The court’s decision will deny voters the chance to know the truth about this election,” Ilann Maazel, lead counsel for the Jill Stein campaign recount effort in Pennsylvania, said in a statement. “The only way we’ll know if this was a secure and accurate election is if we’re able to do a full forensic analysis of these machines, which experts testify are easily hacked, have been hacked by college students in a lab setting, and are banned in California and other states.”

The decision came a day after city commissioners, which oversee city elections, announced that Clinton gained a total of five votes after a recount of all 75 Philadelphia voting divisions in which a review was requested.

But another supporter of Stein’s efforts doubts that recount was valid.

“Because Philadelphia’s voting machines do not keep a voter-verified paper record of each vote cast, we can’t be sure that these machines have accurately tallied the votes,” said Lehigh University computer science and engineering professor Daniel Lopresti in a statement. “That is why a full forensic analysis of the machines and their software is necessary.”

Stein’s lawsuit for a full state recount, previously filed in state court, was dropped and re-filed in Philly federal court.

A hearing in that case is scheduled for Friday.