FEC Website Offline Days Before Midterms, Emails Show
Hackers knocked the FEC website offline days before the November midterms, disrupting electronic filings.
2 min read
The U.S. Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) website was targeted by hackers just days before the November midterm elections, causing a disruption to its electronic filing system. The outage prevented electronic filings while leaving the public’s access to previously submitted campaign finance reports unaffected.
An FEC spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller that the agency’s IT staff are working to restore service. The spokesperson emphasized that the public can still access previously filed reports through the FEC’s online database.
“At this time, we can 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. The website search for FEC reports is not affected,” the spokesperson wrote.
FEC’s electronic filing system is offline. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to resolve the issue.
The agency declined to provide further details about the outage. (RELATED: DOJ To Disperse Thousands Of Election Monitors In Largest-Ever Effort. Democrats Plan To Respond With 10,000-Volunteer Army)
The FEC also acknowledged the disruption in a post on X Tuesday, writing, “FEC’s electronic filing system is offline. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to resolve the issue.” The outage affects the submission of the FEC’s 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports, which disclose spending by political groups and other entities on specific races.
The agency reported in a status update that its electronic filing system had been offline since approximately 10 p.m. ET Monday. The incident comes one week before the midterm elections, which will determine whether Republicans retain their majorities in Congress for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term.
The FEC oversees campaign finance disclosures, not election administration, so the outage is not expected to affect voters’ ability to cast ballots. The public can continue searching previously filed reports through the agency’s online database.
The Daily Caller reached out to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Source: Daily Caller
