US computer scientists urge Clinton to challenge poll result

A number of top US computer scientists have urged Hillary Clinton's campaign to seek a recount of vote in Battleground States of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, saying they have found evidence of 'manipulation', according to a media report today.
The computer scientists believe they have found evidence that vote totals in the three swing states could have been manipulated or hacked, CNN reported, quoting a source as saying.
Democrat Clinton's Republican rival Donald Trump had won the swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the November 8 election.
The scientists presented their findings to top Clinton aides on a call last Thursday, it said.

The scientists, among them J Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, told the Clinton campaign they believe there is a questionable trend of Clinton performing worse in counties that relied on electronic voting machines compared to paper ballots and optical scanners, according to the source.
The group informed John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman, and Marc Elias, the campaign's general counsel, that Clinton received 7 per cent fewer votes in counties that relied on electronic voting machines, which the group said could have been hacked.

Based on statistical analysis, Clinton may have been denied as many as 30,000 votes; she lost Wisconsin by 27,000, the scientists said.

Their group told Podesta and Elias that while they had not found any evidence of hacking, the pattern needs to be looked at by an independent review.
Neither Halderman nor John Bonifaz, an attorney also pressing the case, responded to requests for comment on Tuesday evening, CNN said.
Their urging was first reported by New York magazine.
A message left with President-elect Donald Trump's transition team also was not immediately returned, the report said.
There were widespread concerns about hacking ahead of this month's election, including the Obama administration accusing Russia of attempting to breach voter registration data.
But election officials and cybersecurity experts said earlier this month that it is virtually impossible for Russia to influence the election outcome.

A former Clinton aide declined to respond to questions about whether they will request an audit based on the findings, the report said.