FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.—A county in northern Virginia has ceased the use of election software by Konnech Corp. after the arrest of the company’s executive earlier this week.
Konnech CEO Eugene Yu, 51, was arrested in Michigan on Oct. 4 as part of an investigation into the suspected “theft of personal identifying information” of Los Angeles County election workers, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s (DA) Office.
Michigan-based Konnech won a five-year contract with Los Angeles county in 2020, and stored election workers’ data on servers in China, the DA’s Office said. The office is now seeking Yu’s extradition to Los Angeles.
PollChief, Konnech’s election worker management system product, was designed to assist with poll worker assignments, communications, and payroll, according to the statement.
After learning about the arrest on Tuesday, the Fairfax County Office of Elections has stopped using Konnech’s PollChief election officer management software, said director and general registrar of the county’s Office of Elections, Eric Spicer, in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times on Oct. 6.
The county is also ending its contract with Konnech, Spicer added. Fairfax County election officials declined to comment on whether the county was securing a replacement software given the fast-approaching midterm election day.
“It is important to note that Fairfax County has never used software from this company to collect or store sensitive personal information such as social security numbers or banking information,” Spicer said in the statement.
“Furthermore, this software is not connected to the county’s voting systems or the state voter registration system. It cannot be used to tabulate votes or election results,” he added.
The county’s election officer portal, which runs on the PollChief software, currently says it’s unavailable: “We expect to resume service in approximately one week. We will email all existing officers when the Portal is available again.”
By Terri Wu
