An FEC hacking attempt has disrupted the Federal Election Commission’s electronic filing system, Reuters reported on Oct. 27, 2026. Reuters said it based the report on an email it saw. The disruption comes a week before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
What Reuters reported about the FEC hacking attempt
Reuters said a hacker or hackers targeted the agency’s website. The email said the agency had temporarily shut down its web-facing services, Reuters reported. The sender of the email has not been identified. In a statement, the FEC said its electronic filing system is offline and that its IT staff are working to restore service. The agency declined further comment.
The filing system went down at about 10 p.m. Eastern on Monday, Oct. 26, Reuters said, citing a status message the FEC posted. Visitors can still search the site for past reports. Reuters did not say when service will return.
What the FEC hacking attempt outage blocks
Political groups use the system to file 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports. Those reports show how much candidates, committees, and outside groups spend on specific races. Steven Mele, a partner at the political finance compliance firm MBA Consulting Group, told Reuters he had not seen an outage like this in 26 years. He said the public will get less disclosure about the elections until it is fixed.
The FEC’s own guidance explains the timing. For an election, independent expenditures of $1,000 or more made after the 20th day but more than 24 hours before the vote need a 24-hour report. The report is due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on the day after the communication is distributed. For the Nov. 3 election, that window opened in mid-October.
Earlier spending follows a 48-hour rule. The agency’s guidance for 48-hour reports says expenditures of $10,000 or more trigger a report through the 20th day before an election. It also says filers over the electronic filing threshold must file electronically. Paper filers may file by fax or email. Reuters did not report whether the FEC has told filers how to handle deadlines during the outage. Reports filed in the final window cover spending close to Election Day.
What the FEC does and does not do
The FEC tracks spending by candidates and political committees. It does not run U.S. elections. Reuters said the outage should not affect voters’ ability to cast ballots. The midterms will decide whether President Donald Trump’s Republicans keep their congressional majorities for the next two years.
What the FEC hacking attempt leaves open
Reuters did not say who is behind the FEC hacking attempt or how the attacker tried to get in. It did not say whether any data was accessed. It also did not say who wrote the email. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI did not immediately respond to Reuters. This article relies on Reuters’ reporting and on the FEC’s statement as Reuters relayed it.
For another recent breach report, see the Jolt Journal’s Quest Diagnostics breach story.
Editor’s Take
The reporting is early. It rests on one email and a short FEC statement. Three facts are clear. The filing system is offline. A hacking attempt is reported. The cause and the scope are not confirmed. Readers should not read the FEC hacking attempt as a breach of voting systems. The FEC does not run elections. Its role is disclosure, so an outage hits transparency about campaign spending more than it touches the voting process. The agency’s own words on the cause will matter more than early speculation.
Three things are worth watching. One is a restoration time for the filing system. Another is guidance for filers facing 24-hour deadlines this week. The third is any statement from CISA or the FBI. Details may change as the story develops.
