Louisiana: Cyberattack on St. James Parish government didn’t stop early voting nor affect schools | David J. Mitchell/The Advocate
A cyberattack that forced the shutdown of St. James Parish government’s computer network did not interrupt early voting for runoff elections Nov. 16 or affect the public schools, according to state and parish school officials. “There was no stop in voting, just a change of the means,” Tyler Brey, spokesman for the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office, said Thursday. Workers in the parish’s Registrar of Voters offices had to switch from electronic voting machines to scanned paper ballots for several hours earlier this week while the state took its own system offline as a security precaution. Brey said voting continued Thursday on standard electronic machines and is expected to do so until early voting ends Saturday. In addition to the statewide runoffs for governor and secretary of state, voters in some parts of St. James will be deciding on two Parish Council seats: District 4 in the Convent area and District 5 in western St. James. Parish officials said Wednesday a phishing attack that state investigators believe originated in Russia hit the parish’s computer network.