The Independent View: Experts Urge Clinton Campaign to Challenge Election Results in 3 Swing States

Hillary Clinton is being urged by a group of prominent Computer Scientists and Election Lawyers to call for a recount in three Swing States won by Donald Trump, New York has learned. The group, which includes Voting-Rights Attorney John Bonifaz and J. Alex Halderman, the Director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, believes they’ve found persuasive evidence that results in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, may have been manipulated or hacked. The group is so far not speaking on the record about their findings and is focused on lobbying the Clinton team in private.

Last Thursday, the activists held a conference call with Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta and Campaign General Counsel Marc Elias to make their case, according to a source briefed on the call. The academics presented findings showing that in Wisconsin, Clinton received 7% fewer votes in Counties that relied on electronic-voting machines compared with Counties that used optical scanners and paper ballots. Based on this statistical analysis, Clinton may have been denied as many as 30,000 votes; she lost Wisconsin by 27,000. While it’s important to note the group has not found proof of hacking or manipulation, they are arguing to the Campaign that the suspicious pattern merits an independent review, especially in light of the fact that the Obama White House has accused the Russian Government of hacking the Democratic National Committee.

The Clinton camp is running out of time to challenge the Election. According to one of the activists, the deadline in Wisconsin to file for a recount is Friday; in Pennsylvania, it’s Monday; and Michigan is next Wednesday. Whether Clinton will call for a recount remains unclear.

The academics so far have only a circumstantial case that would require not just a recount but a forensic audit of voting machines.

Also complicating matters, a senior Clinton adviser said, is that the White House, focused on a smooth transfer of power, does not want Clinton to challenge the Election result.