Hacking Attempts Disrupt Federal Election Commission Filing System One Week Before Midterms

The Federal Election Commission’s electronic filing system went offline after hacking attempts targeted the agency’s website on Wednesday, interrupting the disclosure of political spending just one week before the November 3 midterm elections.

An email reviewed by Reuters indicated that the attempted intrusion prompted the agency to temporarily shut down web-facing services. The FEC confirmed that its electronic filing system was offline but declined to comment further on the cause of the outage. “At this time, the FEC’s electronic filing system is currently offline and our IT staff are actively working to restore service,” the commission said in a statement.

The FEC tracks campaign fundraising and spending by federal candidates, political committees and other organizations. It does not administer U.S. elections, and the outage is not expected to affect voters’ ability to cast ballots.

The disruption does, however, prevent organizations from submitting reports that provide information about spending in individual races. Those include 24-hour and 48-hour reports, which can offer a timely look at political expenditures as Election Day approaches. Steven Mele, a partner at political finance compliance firm MBA Consulting Group, told Reuters that he had never encountered an outage like this in his 26 years in the field.

“The result is there will be less disclosure on the elections” until the system is restored, Mele said. The commission said users could still search its website for reports filed before the outage. That means existing campaign finance records remain available, although organizations are unable to submit the affected reports electronically while the filing system is down.

According to an FEC status message cited by the outlet, the system had been offline since around 10 p.m. Eastern time Monday. The agency did not say when it expected service to resume. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported.

The attempted hacking comes during the final stretch of a midterm campaign that will determine whether President Donald Trump‘s Republican Party retains its majorities in Congress for the next two years.

The FEC collects and publishes campaign finance reports that allow the public to examine political contributions and expenditures. Its searchable database contains reports and statements submitted by political committees.

With the electronic filing system unavailable, the spending reports affected by the outage cannot be submitted through the usual electronic process. Mele’s concern is that the interruption will leave less information available to the public until the system is working again.

The report did not identify who was behind the hacking attempts or establish whether anyone successfully gained access to the commission’s systems. The FEC also did not provide details about the nature of the attempts.