FEC Filing System Goes Dark After Hacking Attempts Before Midterms

The Federal Election Commission’s electronic filing system went dark one week before the November 3 midterm elections, and an internal email seen by Reuters says the agency’s website was targeted by a hacker or hackers.

According to Reuters, the FEC confirmed the outage in a statement, saying that “at this time, the FEC’s electronic filing system is currently offline and our IT staff are actively working to restore service.” Reuters reported that the agency declined further comment on what caused the disruption.

BREAKING: A hacker is attempting to breach the US Federal Election Commission's systems and that agency has had to 'temporarily shut down' its web-facing services as a result, according to an email seen by Reuters https://t.co/0eRHQVCGgu pic.twitter.com/ZXjOWxw1w8

— Reuters (@Reuters) October 27, 2026

A status message posted by the FEC said the filing system had been down since around 10 p.m. ET on Monday, Reuters reported. According to The Hill, the agency’s incident page said Monday night that it was “investigating this issue,” and an update shortly after 9:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday said the FEC was “continuing to investigate this issue.”

Last-minute spending reports frozen

The timing matters. Reuters reported that the outage prevents organizations from filing the FEC’s 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports, which show how much political groups and others are spending on specific races. Those reports are the main window voters and reporters have into late money flooding competitive House and Senate contests in the final stretch of a campaign.

“I’ve never seen this in 26 years,” Steven Mele, a partner at political finance compliance firm MBA Consulting Group, told Reuters. “The result is there will be less disclosure on the elections” until it is fixed, Mele said.

The FEC told Reuters that users could still search its website for past reports. The Hill likewise reported that the website’s search function for campaign donations, recipients and political action committee information was not affected by the outage.

Voting not affected, officials say

It is important to be clear about what this outage is and is not. According to Reuters, the FEC does not play a role in administering U.S. elections, and the outage should have no effect on voters’ ability to cast ballots. The Hill also reported that the FEC’s functions should not affect the electoral process. Ballots are run by states and local election officials, not the FEC.

The Hill reported that it is not clear what caused the outage, noting that its own reporting pointed to the Reuters account of the email describing the hacking attempts. An FEC spokesperson told The Hill that the agency could point to “the status update posted to the FEC’s website that the electronic filing system is currently offline and our IT staff are actively working to restore service.”

Who is behind it is still unknown

No one has publicly identified who attempted to breach the system. Reuters reported that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Until federal investigators say more, any claim about the culprit or the motive is speculation.

Still, the episode is a fresh reminder of how vulnerable federal systems can be when the stakes are highest. An agency whose whole job is transparency in campaign money has gone offline at the exact moment that transparency matters most, with control of Congress on the line. Reuters noted the midterms will determine whether President Donald Trump’s Republicans keep their majorities in Congress for the next two years.

Daily Beltway will update this story as the FEC, CISA or the FBI release more information about the outage and when filing service is restored.

Sources

• Reuters (via CNA): Hacking attempts against US Federal Election Commission system triggered outage, email shows
• Reuters (via HuffPost)
• The Hill: FEC electronic filing system hit with hours-long outage
• Reuters on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.