Johnson County election officials say they have received assurances that the personal data of county election workers remains secure, following the arrest of the CEO of a Michigan-based company that makes election worker management software used by Johnson County.
The latest: In an email late last week, officials from Konnech Corporation told Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman that personal information about Johnson County’s election workers “remains secure”.
- The data, the company said, is being stored at the company’s data center in Lansing, Mich.
- Konnech Corporation officials also said the company will provide a “disaster recovery site” for the county’s servers as a contingency measure.
Background: Konnech CEO Eugene Yu was arrested last week in Michigan and held on suspicion of personal identity theft following charges filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney.
- Konnech produces a software, PollChief, that’s used for managing and scheduling poll workers and is used in Los Angeles and other jurisdictions around the country.
- The Los Angeles DA alleges that Los Angeles County election workers submitted their personal identifying information to Konnech, which was supposed to store and maintain that data in the U.S., but investigators say they found some data stored on servers in China.
Any impact on Johnson County election worker data?
The Johnson County Election Office also uses Konnech’s PollChief software.
- PollChief is used to assist with poll worker assignments, election office communications and payroll — but the Johnson County Election Office says it does not use the payroll function of the software.
- The Los Angeles County investigation has focused on stolen personal information from election workers — and does not involve any stolen personal information of voters, according to prosecutors.
- The Los Angeles County DA’s charges against Yu also do not allege that any election results were altered.
Konnech Corporation’s statement
“We are continuing to ascertain the details of what we believe to be Mr. Yu’s wrongful detention by L.A. County authorities. Konnech stands by its statements in its detailed filing in related matters with the federal Court in Houston. Any L.A. County poll worker data that Konnech may have possessed was provided to it by L.A. County, and therefore could not have been “stolen” as suggested.”
