The Starting of the Finish for KNOWiNK: Oregon Dumps KNOWiNK TotalVote System 4 Years Into Contract
Visitor put up by Jessica Pollema
Again in January 2024, an article dropped exposing crucial deficiencies present in KNOWiNK TotalVote software program. Initially posted on JoeHoft.com, “Can any states utilizing KNOWiNK software program purposes be assured in secure and safe elections?”, the article raised critical purple flags about KNOWiNK’s election software program. As of right now, these issues don’t look like resolved, however are ongoing and even getting worse, inflicting the state of Oregon to challenge a cease work order on their contract with KNOWiNK.
“In early 2023, a number of articles have been printed elevating critical questions on an election software program utilized in no less than 35 states known as TotalVote. TotalVote is an all-inclusive software program which handles virtually all points of an election together with marketing campaign finance reporting, voter registration, processing election outcomes, and election evening reporting. TotalVote was developed by an organization known as BPro, from Pierre, South Dakota, which was bought by KNOWiNK in 2020. TotalVote is centralized and hosted on the Microsoft Azure cloud – elevating questions on cybersecurity, and TotalVote is uncertified, but is dealing with elements of the election that should be carried out on licensed software program.
BPro/KNOWiNK software program has been confirmed to have allowed backdated voter registrations in Hawaii, unnatural injections of voter registrations in each county in New Mexico, and the KNOWiNK claims in its product data that election employees can override election outcomes.”
The story of TotalVote’s rise raises eyebrows about how centralized election software program developed and unfold throughout our nation. As we’ve coated prior to now, former South Dakota Secretaries of State paved the best way for BPro’s TotalVote system to land in states far and broad, reportedly gifting the supply code however requiring handy sole-source upkeep contracts that averted aggressive bidding.
States like Hawaii (2014), New Mexico (2015), Arizona (2017), Washington (2018), and Pennsylvania (2020) all signed on with BPro for TotalVote; a system dealing with all the pieces from voter registration to election evening reporting. In February 2021, after receiving an enormous injection of capital from a non-public fairness agency, St. Louis-based KNOWiNK swooped in, acquired BPro, and took over these contracts, including 450 jurisdictions to its already huge community of 980 utilizing its Digital Ballot Pad system. Not stopping there, KNOWiNK expanded its attain by snagging Oregon in 2021 for TotalVote’s election evening reporting.
Pennsylvania and Oregon had every signed over $10 Million contracts with KNOWiNK for a personalized model of the TotalVote System, which was to interchange their archaic and unreliable voter roll and election evening reporting methods. Every state additionally requires impartial undertaking administration oversight for multimillion greenback contracts, and chosen Gartner, Inc. for that oversight. With out the standing reviews and danger assessments from Gartner, we’d not have inside documentation of the intense points that KNOWiNK did not resolve.
Missed deadlines, scrambled knowledge, programming points and cybersecurity failures are a number of of the numerous components inflicting a deteriorated relationship between the state and the seller, ensuing within the State of Pennsylvania terminating the contract with KNOWiNK, placing them years delayed and again at sq. one.
In a latest test on the progress of Oregon’s model of KNOWiNK’s TotalVote System undertaking dubbed ORVIS, it was found that your complete listing of ORVIS undertaking paperwork posted on the Oregon Secretary of State’s web site had been eliminated someplace across the starting of Could. A telephone name to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Workplace revealed {that a} cease work order had been issued to KNOWiNK to halt all work on the ORVIS undertaking, whereas state officers decide the right way to proceed. All beforehand posted Gartner and Govt Steering Committee reviews monitoring progress of the undertaking have been taken down and will not be presently obtainable on-line.
A Gartner oversight report dated October 2024 revealed nearly all of undertaking standing benchmarks within the “purple zone” or excessive danger class, two years delayed, over funds, once more with KNOWiNK apparently not able to assembly the phrases of the contract.
A public data request for proof of the cease work order did affirm that each one work in Oregon has been halted. Thousands and thousands of {dollars} have already been paid to KNOWiNK. Will the State of Oregon get their a reimbursement?
South Dakota is ready to spend $4.5 Million with KNOWiNK for upgrades to the unique TotalVote system; a program that was developed by the state and funded with South Dakota tax {dollars}, that was then assumed by a non-public, for-profit company known as Bpro on the time. South Dakota has been paying this non-public company to host and preserve TotalVote, regardless of all authorities paperwork declaring the state of South Dakota owned the supply code. Your entire story of the inception of TotalVote and it’s roll within the 2020 election was detailed on this September 2023 article discovered right here: https://joehoft.com/shocking-exclusive-bpro-KNOWiNKs-uncertified-internet-connected-cloud-based-election-systems-are-foreign-influenced-and-used-to-illegally-process-election-results/.
The South Dakota statewide TotalVote system crashed on November 1, 2024, inflicting early voting chaos whereas Nevada additionally skilled “glitches” in knowledge transfers. South Dakota Deputy Secretary of State Tom Deadrick blamed the outage on a “international outage” of the Microsoft Azure platform, however Microsoft didn’t seem to report any international outages on November 1, 2024. Nevada’s TotalVote program, known as VREMS, value the state $30 million, but election officers reported experiencing an array of points.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose ordered a number of county boards of elections to revert to utilizing paper pollbooks as a substitute of digital ones, following a discovery of a safety challenge in Perry County. “The problem originated in Perry County, east of Columbus, the place the elections board director reported an issue with the machines however didn’t present additional particulars, referring inquiries to the Secretary of State’s workplace. Frank LaRose’s workplace confirmed the safety concern however didn’t specify which counties are affected or the variety of counties utilizing paper pollbooks.”
On Could eighth, 2025, South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson was questioned by the Authorities Oversight and Audit Committee concerning the $4.5 Million KNOWiNK contract. Consultant and Home Professional Tempore Karla Lems and Senator Taffy Howard pressed Johnson relating to tax {dollars} paid to KNOWiNK for using a program that rightfully belongs to the state. Questions have been raised relating to cybersecurity protocols, contract provisions and correct oversight. State election director Rachel Soulek admitted in testimony that nobody in South Dakota has any oversight of the programming or cybersecurity. We’re blindly trusting out of state staff and subcontractors to ship a top quality product that meets the safety requirements essential to guard nationwide crucial infrastructure.
With out an impartial agency resembling Gartner guaranteeing all points of the undertaking are carried out correctly, all options are working appropriately, and the best stage of cybersecurity requirements are utilized, the folks of South Dakota and different states working a hybrid model of the outdated TotalVote system can solely assume the identical points that brought about Oregon and Pennsylvania to cancel their contracts may very well be affecting it’s operation in our states too.
Residents are lobbying the Authorities Oversight and Audit committee to terminate the contract with KNOWiNK, as a substitute selling a state constructed and maintained voter roll upkeep and election evening reporting system, housed on state servers, run by folks accountable to the residents of South Dakota.
Over a yr and a half after voicing issues on Oregon and Pennsylvania, it’s changing into very obvious that each state utilizing KNOWiNK’s TotalVote system must be involved and significantly take into account an impartial overview of this system or termination of their contracts.
Is that this the start of the top for KNOWiNK?
