EMERY CELLI BRINCKERHOFF & ABADY LLP ATTORNEYS AT LAW

600 FIFTH AVENUE AT ROCKEFELLER CENTER 10 TH FLOOR

NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10020

December 23, 2016

Attorney General Loretta Lynch

U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

Washington, DC 20530

Re: Election integrity

Dear Attorney General Lynch:

We are counsel to Jill Stein and the Stein Campaign in connection with the recounts she sought in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 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. 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 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.

The Vulnerability and Unreliability of Our Voting Apparatus

The need for the recounts in these states was prompted in part by the vulnerability of the voting machines relied on in these three states. There are at least two types of vulnerabilities: susceptibility to malicious interference and poor performance. These reliability issues are magnified in communities of color, which the United States Commission on Civil Rights has found are often more likely to have their votes miscounted or tossed out than predominantly white communities.

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