Jill Stein urges Justice Dept. to probe ‘integrity’ of election system

Former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein on Friday asked the attorney general to order a federal probe focused on identifying improprieties affecting the U.S. election system.

Attorneys for Dr. Stein outlined the request in a detailed letter addressed to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and shared online by the candidate.

“We write to urge the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the integrity of our nation’s election system generally, and our nation’s voting machines specifically, based on the information we discovered in the course of this representation,” their letter states.

According to the candidate’s legal team, recount efforts waged in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin following last month’s presidential election helped expose problems worthy of a DOJ probe.

“The attempted recount process has uncovered that voting machines relied on in these states and across the country are prone to human and machine error, especially in under-resourced black and brown communities, and vulnerable to tampering and hacking,” the letter continued.

“The recount also found that the states’ efforts to protect their systems may be insufficient, particularly in low-income communities and communities of color. Each of these grave concerns warrants federal intervention,” it added.

While recounts failed to uncover any evidence of widespread voted fraud or election hacking, the letter says federal investigators should nonetheless consider various issues allegedly uncovered during the course of the audit, including outdated voting machines and uncounted ballots.

“Our representative democracy is founded on voting for our elected representatives. It is both a paramount civic duty and a fundamental right. Americans need to be confident that our voters are counter accurately,” the letter states.

Around 1.45 million Americans casted ballots for Dr. Stein in this year’s White House race, or just a little over 1 percent of those who voted in last month’s election.