PITTSBURGH _ Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Joseph James has rejected a bid by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein to forensically examine voting machines in Allegheny County.
In a brief opinion, Judge James noted that an attorney for Stein's campaign, Douglas Lieb, had argued for such an examination during a Dec. 2 hearing. But while the judge agreed to allow the results of county voting machines in 52 precincts to be retabulated, his order following the hearing made no mention of a forensic exam. That was, he wrote Thursday, "because there was no evidence or statutory authority to support the request."
The Stein campaign had sought a court order requiring the examination yesterday, after urging county officials to undertake a thoroughgoing review of the machines over last weekend.
Other than an affidavit from a computer science expert about the vulnerabilities of machines, which was rejected as hearsay, James wrote, "There was no other evidence offered as to any voting irregularities in Allegheny County."
The Stein campaign has argued that the county's voting machines were susceptible to hacking, but that evidence of such tampering would likely only be revealed by close examination of the machines' programming.
James' ruling, which follows the rejection of a similar request by the Stein campaign in Philadelphia Wednesday, may not be the last word on the matter: The campaign has also filed a complaint in federal court that also seeks forensic review of machines used in Pennsylvania. A hearing on that case is set for Friday. The state must certify the results of its presidential election on Dec. 13.
