A man wearing American flag pants casts his ballot at a voting station in Los Angeles on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the LA County district attorney dropped charges against the CEO of Konnech, which makes scheduling software for poll workers.
Eugene Yu, CEO of the Michigan-based firm Konnech, was charged in mid October with illegally storing the personal information of poll workers on Chinese servers, a violation of its contract with LA County. Konnech has provided its PollChief software to cities and counties across the country, including a $2.9 million contract with Los Angeles County.
"We are concerned about both the pace of the investigation and the potential bias in the presentation and investigation of the evidence," spokesperson Tiffiny Blacknell said in a statement. The county did indicate that it hasn't ruled out refiling the charges after reviewing the evidence, saying it would"assemble a new team, with significant cyber security experience to determine whether any criminal activity occurred.
In October, the district attorney's office acknowledged to NPR that the investigation began after a tip from Gregg Phillips, a prominent election denier associated with the controversial group True the Vote, which executive produced and provided the basis for the claims in the widely debunked filmPhillips has said that the group's interest in Konnech was spurred, in part, by information provided by followers of the far-right conspiracy QAnon and suggested that it was part of a"red...