EXCLUSIVE: Virginia County Stops Using Konnech Election Software Following CEO’s Arrest

A man casts his vote during the early voting period for the midterms at the Fairfax County Government Center in Fairfax, Va., on Oct. 7, 2022. Terri Wu/The Epoch Times

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.—A county in northern Virginia has halted its use of Konnech Corp.’s election software after last week’s arrest of the company’s chief executive.

Since learning about the arrest, the Fairfax County Office of Elections has halted using Konnech’s PollChief election officer management software, Eric Spicer, the director and general registrar of the county’s Office of Elections, said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times on Oct. 6.

The county also is terminating its contract with Konnech, Spicer added. Fairfax County election officials declined to comment on whether the county is securing a replacement product, given that Election Day is less than a month away.

PollChief, Konnech’s election worker management system product, is designed to assist with poll worker assignments, communications, and payroll, according to 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 said.

The election officer portal of Fairfax County in northern Virginia says it’s unavailable on Oct. 6, 2022. Screenshot via The Epoch Times

“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.

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.”

Among the PollChief products purchased by the county were the PollChief Worker Management System, PollChief Worker Self-service Portal, PollChief Asset Management System, and the PollChief Help-Desk Management System, according to a May invoice issued by Konnech that was obtained by The Epoch Times.

The 2016 contract between Konnech and the county, also obtained by The Epoch Times, states that the company’s servers are located in Lansing, Michigan, and that it also has a backup server located in nearby Okemos.

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.

Signs outside the Fairfax County Government Center, a main early voting site, in Fairfax, Va., on Oct. 7, 2022. Terri Wu/The Epoch Times

Christine Brim, a coordinator of the Fairfax County Republican election integrity working group that recruits and trains poll watchers to observe voting on behalf of the Republican Party, confirmed that she was notified about the county’s decision in a phone call from Christopher Henzel, chairman of the county electoral board and a Republican.

Brim praised the county’s election officials for taking swift action.

“They did not wait to find an alternative vendor. They simply got out of the risky situation, to their credit,” she told The Epoch Times. “They just turned on a dime, said ‘no more,’ and got out.”

Brim said she was told that Fairfax County didn’t use PollChief for payrolls, and only stored workers’ names and contact information on the platform. That doesn’t eliminate the risk but it limits it, Brim said.

The county used PollChief to manage election officers’ training, scheduling, and communication, according to Brim. Spicer told her that the county never used the PollChief Asset Management System, which logs election equipment and poll location data, because it didn’t work, she said.

With 264 precincts in the county, and five to 10 election officers needed per precinct for Election Day on Nov. 8, switching software now could be “extremely challenging,” Brim said.

Another use of PollChief by the county was to accept applications for election officer positions via the election officer portal, which is now unavailable, Brim said. But people interested in becoming election officers can still apply through the Virginia Department of Election, which will distribute the application to the corresponding counties.

Virginia started early in-person voting on Sept. 23. Fairfax County began with three locations and will add another 13 on Oct. 27.

Konnech officials didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.