Hack knocks FEC filing system offline days before US midterms
Why it matters: The outage blocks 24-hour and 48-hour campaign spending reports as outside groups pour millions into late races.
The Federal Election Commission’s electronic filing system went offline after what the agency described as an attempted breach, disrupting campaign finance disclosures just days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The FEC said the outage began around 10 p.m. ET on Oct. 26 and that staff had identified the problem and were implementing a fix, but the system was still down early Wednesday. Previously filed reports remained searchable. The breakdown does not affect voting, because the FEC does not run elections, but it does prevent candidates, super PACs and other political committees from filing time-sensitive 24-hour and 48-hour reports. That creates a blind spot as late-stage spending surges in a cycle AdImpact said had already reached a record $11.21 billion in ad spending and reservations.