Curious about the Pennsylvania recount process, I began doing research to understand how things would unfold. I came across a couple of concerns that I need clarification on.
First, things I learned about the process that may be helpful to know:
- Most votes in PA are cast on electric machines with no paper trail.
- Deadline has already passed, however, candidate can get approval from court to initiate recount.
- Donald Trump's complaint in a tweet about “impossible recounts” was a curious statement. It is in fact not impossible to recount votes in Pennsylvania, however, I get the sense he hopes it would be.
- Most machines are old and easily hackable, according to experts. All machines are independent and would have to be hacked individually. There are approximately 4500 machines. The process for recounting machine ballots is below (from article found online — heavy):
The Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s Office published a detailed handout on how a recount process works. In a county in which an election district uses an electronic voting system that does not utilize paper ballots, “the county board must conduct the recanvass similar to the procedure used to recanvass the vote cast on voting machines,” the Secretary of State says.
The county board “must make a record of the number of the seal upon the voting machine
and the number on the protective counter or other device.” The board must “make visible the registering counters of the machine, and without unlocking the machine against voting, recanvass the vote cast on the machine.”
The board is then to “recanvass by examining the totals tape on each machine, which shall constitute the recount total.”
If there is a discrepancy, “the county board of elections must unlock the voting and counting mechanism of the system and examine and test the system to determine the cause of the discrepancy,” the handout reads. “In this case, the counter must be reset at zero before it is tested, after which it must be operated at least 100 times. After the examination and test has been completed, the machine inspector must prepare a written statement detailing the result of the examination and test.”
Exit polls showed Clinton winning Pennsylvania, and the discrepancy between the final results and those polls (5.6%) was among the highest in the country, according to TDMSResearch.com.
Concerns
Court Process:
What is the likelihood of a recount being declined? What judge is making this decision? Could it be appealed? The following paragraph is directly from Pennsylvania election law regarding candidate initiated recounts. The last sentence is most troubling:
While candidates cannot file a direct request for a recount, they may appeal the “order or decision of any county board regarding the computation or canvassing of the returns of any primary or election, or regarding any recount or recanvass thereof.” During the appeal process, the court may determine that a recount is necessary.
It’s a judgement call. Who makes that call?
Also, I came across this article discussing the requirements of the recount:
Per Pennsylvania regulations, there is only one way remaining for Jill Stein to get a recount in Pennsylvania and it is a complicated process. BillyPenn reports that Stein would have to file for a court appeal and present a “prima facie case” showing that voter fraud took place. While prima facie has a lower burden of proof threshold than “beyond reasonable doubt,” it is still significant. Stein would have to prove in court that fraud was “probable.” This is going to be very difficult given that even the computer specialists recommending the recount say there is no proof of hacking or fraud.
How true is this?
I am hopeful that we recount Pennsylvania, especially considering the data from exit polls. However, I am not certain we will ever know what really happened given the hurdles involved. Can anyone provide clarification?