FEC's campaign-finance e-filing system is back after nearly 41 hours offline following a reported hacking attempt

As of 6:56 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026

The Federal Election Commission's electronic filing system for campaign-finance reports is back online after being offline for nearly 41 hours, Reuters reported. The FEC took the system down after what an agency email described as an attempt by a "bad actor" to breach its systems, according to Reuters.

The FEC's status page first reported the problem at 10:15 p.m. ET on Monday, Oct. 26. On Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 4:50 p.m. ET, it said, "The electronic filing system is available. A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results." The agency marked the incident resolved at 4:48 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 30. The FEC also said on X shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday that the system was "back online and available to filers," The Hill reported, adding that work was continuing to restore a search feature and the agency's notification service.

What the outage affected

While the system was down, super PACs and other groups could not file the FEC's mandatory 24-hour and 48-hour reports, which show late spending to help or hurt specific candidates, Reuters reported. Outside groups spent an average of more than $50 million a day the week before the outage, OpenSecrets research director Brendan Glavin told Reuters.

"Disclosure delayed is disclosure denied," OpenSecrets executive director Hilary Braseth said in a statement released before the system was restored, according to Reuters.

The FEC tracks fundraising and spending by federal candidates and political committees. It does not run elections or count votes, and the outage should have no effect on voters' ability to cast ballots in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, Reuters reported.

The reported hacking attempt

An FEC officer told campaign compliance firms late on Oct. 26 that the agency took its web-facing services offline after a "bad actor" tried to breach its systems, according to an email reviewed by Reuters. Campaign finance managers had to reset their passwords before logging back in, according to another email Reuters reviewed.

The FEC's status page does not mention hacking. The agency did not return Reuters' requests for comment Wednesday and has not publicly announced a cause. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI referred questions to the FEC, Reuters reported.

What is not known

GROKsiNEWS.com has not seen the emails Reuters described. The FEC has not said publicly whether the attempt succeeded, whether any data was accessed or altered, or who was behind it. Reuters said it could not establish a motive.