FEC e-filing system goes offline a week before midterms; hacking reported

The Federal Election Commission's electronic filing system has been down for hours, one week before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. An FEC spokesperson confirmed the outage and said technology staff are working to restore service ¹.

The FEC's incident page said Monday night that the agency was investigating the problem. A Tuesday update after 9:30 a.m. EDT said it was "continuing to investigate this issue" ¹. Reuters reported the system had been down since about 10 p.m. Eastern on Monday ².

What the agency has said

The FEC has not said what caused the outage. The Hill reported that Reuters, citing an email, said the FEC website was targeted by a hacker or hackers ¹. The email's contents were not described, and no one has been named as responsible ².

The FEC declined further comment on the outage ². The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment ².

the electronic filing system is currently offline and our IT staff are actively working to restore service

What is affected

The outage blocks groups from filing the FEC's 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports. Those reports show how much political groups and others are spending on specific races ². They matter most in the final days, when late money can arrive.

Past filings are still available. The FEC's search tool for donations, recipients and political action committee information is not affected ¹².

The FEC does not run elections. The Hill reported its functions should not affect the electoral process, and Reuters said the outage should not affect voters' ability to cast ballots ¹².

Why it matters

Steven Mele, a partner at the political finance compliance firm MBA Consulting Group, told Reuters the result would be "less disclosure on the elections" until the system is fixed. He also said, "I've never seen this in 26 years" ².

less disclosure on the elections

That matters because voters, reporters and watchdog groups use these filings to see who is paying for ads and last-minute pushes. If late spending can't be filed, it may stay out of public view while people are still deciding how to vote. The cause is still unconfirmed, so that is a concern, not a finding.

No restoration time has been announced. Next, watch whether the FEC says when filing will resume, whether it confirms a hacking attempt, and whether CISA or the FBI comment ¹².

The Record

1. Oct 26, 2026The FEC's electronic filing system went down at about 10 p.m. ET, and the agency said it was investigating ¹².
2. Oct 27, 2026The FEC confirmed the outage was continuing, and Reuters reported, citing an email, that the site was targeted by a hacker or hackers ¹².

Sources

1. The Hill, “FEC electronic filing system hit with hours-long outage” (2026-10-27). thehill.com/policy/technology/6175878-fec-filing-system-down
2. Reuters (via Cyprus Mail), “Hacking attempts against US Federal Election Commission system triggered outage” (2026-10-27). cyprus-mail.com/2026/10/27/hacking-attempts-against-us-feder

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