Green Party Lawyers Push For Audit Of Philadelphia Voting Machines
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Green Party backed lawyers, who are gambling on an emergency hearing on Friday before a federal court judge on their effort for a statewide recount in Pennsylvania, played out their hand at the local level, before a Common Pleas Court Judge.
While a limited recount ran its course in Philadelphia, attorney Ilann Maazel, representing Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, asked a judge for permission to conduct a forensic audit of the voting machines.
"We need to get behind the machine into the software, to make sure they weren't tampered with, to make sure there's no malware, to make sure that they weren't hacked," said Maazel.
After Stein's supporters filed affidavits for the recount, elections officials checked out 75 of more than 1686 voting divisions.
READ: Federal Judge Schedules Hearing On Presidential Election Recount In PA
But, Maazel says interested parties were only able to observe, not examine the machines.
"The law allows presidential candidates to examine the voting machines, and that doesn't mean standing there like a potted plant. It means looking behind the machines to make sure that the votes were counted accurately," he said.
Deputy City Solicitor Ben Field told the judge "there was no evidence of any discrepancies, whatever" on voting machines. (Hillary Clinton did pick up five votes from absentee or provisional ballots that were originally undetected by optical scanners.)
Stein's lawyers are also requesting federal court intervention for a statewide recount, and that hearing is now set for Friday.
Philadelphia, like most counties across the Commonwealth, uses electronic voting machines.
Stein's lawyers argue those devices do not leave a paper trail. They say there's no way for individual voters to check and verify, before their votes are counted.
Attorney Jonathan Goldstein, representing the Republican State Committee, warned any protracted litigation could "wreak havoc on the election process."
"It's important that the people of Pennsylvania have their electors seated at the electoral college."
States must settle any lingering election disputes before December 13th - six days before the Electoral College - when electors from each state meet to vote for President.