Election software firm CEO forced to go into hiding thanks to racist threats from Trump supporters: NYT

An obscure election software company has in recent months been bombarded by racist threats after Trump-backing conspiracy theorists claimed that it worked with the Chinese Communist Party to steal the 2020 election.

The New York Times reports that Trump supporters recently zeroed in on a company called Konnech for purportedly giving the Chinese government data on American poll workers.

What makes Konnech a strange target for the conspiracy theorists, notes the Times, is that its software is not involved with the counting of votes in elections.

"Konnech, a company based in Michigan with 21 employees in the United States and six in Australia, has nothing to do with collecting, counting or reporting ballots in American elections," the publication writes. "Instead, it helps clients like Los Angeles County and Allen County, Ind., with basic election logistics, such as scheduling poll workers."

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Nonetheless, the company's founder, Eugene Yu, is an American citizen who emigrated from China in 1986, which was apparently enough to rouse the conspiracy theorists' suspicions.

“Might want to book flights back to Wuhan before we hang you until dead!” wrote on Trump supporter in an email to the firm.

The Times writes that Yu and his family had to go into hiding after being on the receiving end of multiple racist threats -- and he said it's had a very bad emotional impact on him personally.

“I’ve cried,” he told the Times. “Other than the birth of my daughter, I hadn’t cried since kindergarten.”