New software, Total Vote, will replace current election management system
The Secretary of State confirmed a purchase of TotalVote, from KNOWiNK LLC
The Secretary of State has decided on TotalVote, a product from Knowink LLC, to be the new election management system for Connecticut.
We contacted the SOTS as to why TotalVote was chosen over other systems; the answer given was: “TotalVote was selected for a variety of reasons, after a thorough [request for purchase] process.”
Capabilities with Total Vote Solutions
The software claims to be capable of assisting in the following functions—
Voter Registration – The TotalVote® Voter Registration System is currently used to help streamline the voter registration process for state and county election officials.
Election Management – The Election Management module…provides all election functions in a single, unified manner for all elections including statewide primary, special and general elections plus local elections.
Election Night Reporting – TotalVote can deliver Election Night Reporting results …. and available to anyone, anywhere, on most devices.
The software can perform Online Voter Registration, Campaign Finance details, and Electronic Ballot Delivery.
See election results from a municipal race in St. Louis, Missouri.
Open Checkbook shows the Secretary of State has paid over $1 million paid to Knowink LLC through the Capital Improvements Fund, categorized as “IT Software Maint & Support”.
In 2023, almost $841,000 was paid to Knowink LLC.
In January 2024, the company received another $155,390.63 from the state of Connecticut.
Technology concerns with Knowink products
Knowink’s products were at the center of controversy in 2019 and 2020. From Influence Watch:
“In September 2019, the Philadelphia election officials ran a test with newly purchased KnowInk products and reported numerous problems, including “failures to properly connect to voting machine printers and inadequate election night reporting.” 13 The piece fails to specify which products may have caused the problems, but names slow voting, connection failures and machine failures.
The SOTS says they have “not yet determined when the new system will be fully deployed.” As such, training for the Total Vote software remains an ambiguous process that could be far from a smooth one.
Ridiculous!