Hacking Attack Forces Federal Election Commission Filing System Offline Days Before Midterms

October 30, 2026

Hackers targeted the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC), disrupting the agency’s electronic filing system one week before the November 3 midterm elections, according to Reuters and Politico.

FEC Says Electronic Filing Is Offline, Fix Under Way

“At this time, the FEC’s electronic filing system is currently offline, and our IT staff is actively working to restore service,” the agency said in a statement cited by Reuters. Deputy press secretary Myles Martin told Politico that the website search for past reports “is not affected.”

People can still search the site for past reports. Around 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, a status message said the issue “has been identified and a fix is being implemented.”

‘A Bad Actor:’ What the FEC Told Campaign Compliance Firms

On Monday night, an FEC electronic filings officer emailed several campaign compliance firms. “We have a bad actor attempting to breach FEC systems,” the officer wrote. “As a result, we’ve had to temporarily shut down our web-facing services.” The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI referred questions to the FEC.

A person familiar with the matter, granted anonymity, told Politico that cybersecurity staff noticed the attempted intrusions and shut down the affected parts of the system. The person called the hacking attempt “quite narrow and compartmentalized” and said “no one really knows” who is behind it.

Voting Is Not Affected, but 24- and 48-Hour Spending Reports Are

The FEC does not administer U.S. elections, so the outage should not affect voters’ ability to cast ballots. It does, however, prevent organizations from submitting the FEC’s 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports, which show spending on specific races.

Steven Mele, president and CEO of MBA Consulting Group, said of the disruption: “I’ve never seen this in 26 years.”

An automated email obtained by Politico says the FEC will not fine campaigns for missing filings if they submit within 24 hours after the system is back online. The outage blocks the 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports, which show spending on specific races.

Why It Matters: Midterms Break the $11.21 Billion Spending Record

AdImpact says spending has passed the 2024 record of $11.2 billion. Super PACs drive much of it because they can accept unlimited sums from wealthy individuals and corporations. OpenSecrets research director Brendan Glavin said groups reported more than $250 million in spending on October 20 alone.

The agency has been largely without power since last year, Politico reports, after multiple commissioners left and Trump moved to fire then-Chair Ellen Weintraub, leaving it without a quorum.

Pennington County, South Dakota, closed its public offices on July 6 after a cybersecurity incident occurred, just ahead of the July 28 runoff election.

In 2024, the FBI seized 32 Russian propaganda sites spreading disinformation ahead of the U.S. elections, and local authorities charged three IRGC-linked Iranian nationals for election interference and cybercrimes.