Illinois County Clerk Reports Cyber Attacks on Servers, Voters Asked to ‘Stay in Line’

A voter arrives at a polling place in Minneapolis, Minn., on March 3, 2020. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Authorities in Champaign County, Illinois, said Tuesday that a cyberattack is affecting server performance during the 2022 midterm elections.

The Champaign County Clerk’s Office said it is “is aware of connectivity issues and computer server performance being impacted. The Clerk’s Office believes these are due to cyber-attacks on the network and servers,” according to a statement posted on social media on Tuesday afternoon.

The office said its websites have been subject to distributed denial-of-service, or DDOS, attacks for the past month.

“Fortunately the reinforced security and response from the Clerk’s IT team has prevented these attacks from being successful and the Clerk’s website has remained secured,” it said. “No data or information has been compromised and the election is secure.”

Such “cyber-attacks are a strategic and coordinated effort to undermine and destabilize our democratic process. The intent is to discourage you from voting,” the office warned. “Please do not fall victim to this. The Clerk’s Office is committed to ensuring every eligible voter in Champaign County has access to a fair, free, and accessible election.”

Officials then called on voters to “please stay in line.”

“Election judges and staff are doing everything they can to process voters according to the requirements of election law while navigating these attacks. We appreciate your patience and commitment to our democratic process,” it said. “This is a developing situation, and we will have more information as it becomes available. Let me reiterate that we are committed to making sure every voter has a chance to cast their ballot so please stay in line.

Champaign County, which reliably votes in favor of Democrats, is located in central Illinois. In 2020, President Joe Biden won with about 60 percent of the vote to former President Donald Trump’s 37 percent, according to election data. The last Republican president to win the county was George H. W. Bush in 1988.

In Illinois, several important statewide races include governor, secretary of state, and attorney general. A number of House races, one U.S. Senate race, and other local races are on the ballot.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, is facing Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey in the race for governor. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) is seeking reelection Tuesday in Illinois against GOP candidate Kathy Salvi.