This protection is made potential by Votebeat, a nonpartisan news group masking native election administration and voting entry. The article is offered for reprint below the phrases of Votebeat’s republishing policy.
A defamation and pc fraud lawsuit filed this week in opposition to Texas-based True the Vote asks a decide to basically decide whether or not the election integrity group’s marketing campaign in opposition to a small election vendor constitutes slanderous lies or a participation in prison acts.
The suit was brought by Konnech Inc., a small elections logistics firm primarily based in Michigan. It alleges that True the Vote and its followers launched a stream of false and racist accusations in opposition to the firm’s founder, forcing him and his household to flee their dwelling in worry for his or her lives and damaging the firm’s enterprise. The go well with cites True the Votes’ public claims that it hacked the firm’s servers and accessed the private information of practically 2 million U.S. ballot employees.
In a uncommon transfer, the decide granted Konnech’s request for a temporary restraining order in opposition to Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips, leaders of True the Vote, a nonprofit group recognized for making allegations of voter fraud with out proof to assist their claims. Judge Kenneth Hoyt of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas discovered a “substantial likelihood” that Konnech would “suffer irreparable injury” with out it. The order additionally prohibits True the Vote from accessing, or trying to entry, Konnech’s computer systems or disclosing any of the firm’s information and orders the group to reveal extra information about the alleged breach.
Experts instructed Votebeat the harm accomplished by the unfold of conspiracy theories about election software program firms reminiscent of Konnech by teams like True the Vote might influence the already restricted instruments out there that assist election officers rent, practice and schedule election employees.
True the Vote has for years claimed that voting machines will not be safe and that U.S. elections are more and more fraudulent but has offered little evidence, and its claims have failed to stand up to basic scrutiny. Konnech’s lawsuit particularly names Engelbrecht, True the Vote’s founder, and Phillips, a board member, saying that they “have intentionally, repeatedly, and relentlessly attacked” Konnech, and its founder, Eugene Yu, with a “unique brand of racism and xenophobia.”
Engelbrecht and Phillips, for instance, repeatedly known as Yu a “Chinese operative” who was spearheading a “Red Chinese communist op run against the United States.”
“On August 27, 2022, True the Vote posted an article claiming that Konnech is ‘owned by the Chinese Communist Party,’ even though Konnech is owned by U.S. citizens who are not affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, and claiming that Konnech is involved in the ‘subversion of our elections’ which is tantamount to falsely accusing Konnech of election fraud, treason, and espionage,” the grievance states.
True the Vote named its marketing campaign concentrating on Konnech and Yu the “Tiger Project.”
In a textual content message to Votebeat on Tuesday, Engelbrecht mentioned “True the Vote looks forward to a public conversation about Konnech’s attempts to silence examination of its activities through litigation.”
Hours after Engelbrecht was served with the lawsuit Monday, she took to social media to inform her followers about how they will put together for an “honest election” in November. But first, she introduced True the Vote had been sued and reassured the practically 1,600 viewers who tuned right into a livestream on the crowdfunding site Locals that allegations made by Konnech Inc. are “meritless.”
“We’re going to keep moving forward. Everything we have ever said about any of this is true,” Engelbrecht mentioned throughout the hourlong livestream she hosted from a lodge room in Washington, D.C., the place she inspired viewers to enroll as ballot watchers and to observe drop bins. “And it’s just a function of how we find our path to release it publicly in a way that allows us to keep moving forward.”
To date, no proof of widespread voter fraud has been discovered and True the Vote has not launched any proof of such fraud.
The reality {that a} federal decide granted the non permanent restraining order below the case’s circumstances is important, mentioned Peter Vogel, a Texas litigation legal professional who focuses on cybersecurity and information expertise. Federal judges hardly ever grant injunctions with out permitting a defendant to current proof, he mentioned.
“So that tells me that there should be very persuasive proof for a federal decide to grant a short lived restraining order with out having the different facet be current,” Vogel mentioned
Vogel additionally has many years of expertise as a pc programmer and has examined digital election methods for the Texas secretary of state’s workplace.
Another important facet of the order, he mentioned, is the comparatively low degree of bond the decide required Konnech to submit: simply $100. The bond often protects the enjoined events from any harm.
“This tells me the judge doesn’t think there’s any damage to the defendant.” Vogel mentioned.
True the Vote’s “Tiger Project” consisted of submitting dozens of public report requests to Konnech’s clients, “all in an obvious effort to intimidate these clients or to in any other case increase clients’ suspicions about Konnech,” in keeping with the firm’s grievance.
In addition, the grievance says, True the Vote, Engelbrecht, and Phillips “falsely claimed” they found Konnech had saved information on an unsecured server in Wuhan, China, “which Defendants hacked into and stole data from,” together with private information on 1.8 million ballot employees “which they claim is a vehicle for the Chinese Communist Party to breach U.S. elections.”
The firm mentioned it makes use of no such server, and shops all U.S. information “exclusively on protected computers located within the United States.” In addition, it mentioned, it doesn’t have information on that many ballot employees “or even a small fraction of that number.”
“When [True the Vote] claimed to have illegally accessed Konnech’s system, the software was being used to manage poll worker recruitment and scheduling by 17 cities and counties (no states),” Jon Gregg a spokesman for Konnech mentioned in an emailed assertion to Votebeat.
Konnech’s solely Texas consumer is Travis County, which makes use of the firm’s PollChief instrument to recruit, practice and schedule ballot employees.
According to the grievance, Konnech “does not select, communicate, or otherwise interface with any poll workers.” Konnech additionally argues that it “never handles any ballots and no ballots or other voting counts ever enter any of Konnech’s computer servers.”
Experts say the claims and conspiracy theories unfold by teams like True the Vote about small firms reminiscent of Konnech, which gives a software program that election officers can use to coach, recruit and schedule ballot employees for an election, might negatively influence election places of work and in the end voters and taxpayers.
The marketplace for expertise out there to assist assist elections is already very small, mentioned Tammy Patrick, election administration skilled and senior adviser at Democracy Fund. There’s usually solely a handful of election assist software program out there for election directors. Additionally, the shepherding of tons of and generally hundreds of election ballot employees to get employed, skilled and scheduled to work could be a large activity that requires lots of time, employees and extra sources, she mentioned.
“Software like the one this company provides, removes all of that back and forth and allows for a more streamlined, more efficient process,” Patrick mentioned.“And so when you have a situation like this, that is infringing and slowing down, and making the hiring of poll workers less efficient in a time when it’s already a huge challenge. It can be incredibly problematic.”
The right-wing nonprofit group has spearheaded the unfold of voter fraud conspiracy theories in Texas and past. Earlier this yr, Engelbrecht teamed up with conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza to supply the documentary movie “2000 Mules”. The film goals to show voter fraud in the 2020 election, which has been repeatedly debunked and criticized. The group has additionally partnered with conservative sheriffs across the county to extend surveillance of voting and to assist in investigating voter fraud allegations.
According to the lawsuit the “attacks” on Konnech started with “The Pit,” a True the Vote, invitation-only occasion in August, which was additionally stay streamed, the place Engelbrecht and Phillps would lastly launch “devastating information” that may show the 2020 election was stolen.
“Instead, Defendants used The Pit as a platform to announce their website, and publicly launch their attack against Konnech by spreading baseless lies,” the lawsuit claims.
The “smearing campaign” in opposition to Konnech continued with True the Vote followers associating the in any other case unknown firm to “everything from Mark Zuckerberg, to George Soros, the Chinese Communist Party, and even the origins of COVID-19,” the lawsuit states.
The grievance lays out True the Vote’s conspiracy theories about Konnech, which learn like a cyber thriller.
Speaking on a podcast titled “Prophets and Patriots,” Phillips described assembly his “guys” at a lodge room in Dallas, the place they put “towels under the doors” like “some kind of a James Bond kind of thing,” and proceeded to hack right into a Konnech server, in keeping with the grievance, which included a duplicate of the podcast.
Konnech’s grievance is one other instance of a number of ongoing lawsuits that allege that “individuals are knowingly and intentionally putting out misinformation as a way of making money and accumulating power,” mentioned David A. Schulz, Yale Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic director.
Other election tech firms, reminiscent of Dominion and Smartmatic have filed defamation, libel and slander lawsuits in opposition to teams and allies of former president Donald Trump who echoed his false claims about 2020 election fraud, together with Fox News and legal professionals Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.
In Georgia, two election workers filed a defamation lawsuit against cable news channel One America Network over debunked claims that the election employees had introduced suitcases stuffed with unlawful ballots whereas working as poll counters. The lawsuit was resolved with a settlement in May.
“This is not the first case where this spread of false information has caused people to make death threats, and that has required people to leave their homes,” Schulz mentioned. “This misinformation not only damages reputations, but it has real effects on people’s lives and companies causing grave damage, and bringing a claim for libel is one of the few tools that companies have to fight back.”
A listening to on Konnech’s case is scheduled for Sept. 26 in U.S. District Court in Houston.
Natalia Contreras is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with The Texas Tribune. Contact Natalia at [email protected].
Disclosure: Texas Secretary of State has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news group that’s funded partially by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Financial supporters play no position in the Tribune’s journalism. Find an entire list of them here.
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