FEC restores campaign-finance filing system after nearly two-day disruption

What This is

• The FEC took its electronic filing system offline for roughly 41 hours after detecting a suspected hacking attempt.
• The outage blocked candidates, parties, Super PACs, and other groups from submitting new campaign finance reports, including required 24- and 48-hour reports close to the election.
• Already-filed reports remained available to search during the outage, according to the FEC and multiple reports.
• The FEC restored the electronic filing system Wednesday afternoon, but said some functions like the search feature and a notification service still needed work.
• The FEC said the outage was not expected to affect voters’ ability to cast ballots.
• Watchdogs warned that delayed reporting created a transparency gap by temporarily hiding last-minute political spending.
• The disruption happened in the final stretch before the midterm elections, when late spending and political advertising were surging.

Why This Matters

• Fast campaign-finance disclosures help voters judge candidates and groups before ballots are cast.
• When required last-minute reports are delayed, donors and outside groups can spend heavily without immediate public scrutiny.
• Cyber disruptions to filing systems can shake trust that political money reports are accurate and complete.