Experts Say Clinton May Have Been Victim of Election Hacking
She received 7 percent fewer votes in counties that used electronic voting machines.
All that talk from Donald Trump about the 2016 presidential election being rigged? Well, there might be something to it, but the contest was rigged against Hillary Clinton, according to a team of experts who say they’ve found evidence of possible election hacking or manipulation in three key swing states.
According to New York Magazine, a group of renown computer scientists and election lawyers are urging the Clinton team to call for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The group, whose members include J. Alex Halderman of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society and voting rights attorney John Bonifaz, haven’t spoken publicly about their concerns, but a source told New York that they spoke with Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and campaign general counsel Marc Elias in a conference call Thursday.
The crux of the group’s concern has to do with a seeming irregularity among Clinton’s vote share in counties that use electronic voting machines. In Wisconsin, the former secretary of state received 7 percent fewer votes in counties which use electronic voting machines than those which use optical scanners and paper ballots. A statistical analysis found that this could have cost Clinton as many as 30,000 votes, and she only lost the state by 27,000.
It is not a smoking gun by any means, and they haven’t found any proof of outside interference or hacking behind this conspicuous irregularity. That said, the pattern is worrisome enough that they’re recommending an independent review of the election, since there doesn’t appear to be any obvious reason why Clinton would perform worse in counties that use electronic voting machines.
The deadlines for requesting recounts are fast approaching. Wisconsin’s is Friday, Pennsylvania’s is on Monday, and Michigan’s is on the following Wednesday. It unclear if the Clinton team is going to act on this new information.
Clinton, who won the popular vote, would need to win all three states in order to alter the outcome of the election. Although, if faithless electors are actually a factor this year, she might not need all of them, though every aspect of this scenario is highly unlikely.
