Hackers Target US Campaign Finance System Days Before Midterm Elections
A reported attack on the Federal Election Commission's website has disrupted spending disclosures as record sums flow into the final week of the midterm campaign.
By Vanessa Lopez ·
Hackers have reportedly targeted the website of the US Federal Election Commission (FEC), disrupting campaign finance disclosures only days before the midterm elections on November 3.
Reuters reported on an email the FEC sent to a campaign compliance firm. It said: "We have a bad actor trying to breach FEC systems. As a result, we've had to temporarily suspend our web-facing services."
The outage stops organisations from submitting the 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports. These filings show how political groups and candidates are spending money on particular races.
A status message on the FEC website indicated the system went down after 10.15pm EST on Monday, which was 2.15am GMT on Tuesday. An update posted at 8.17pm EST on Tuesday said, "The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented." The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency both referred questions to the FEC.
The FEC plays no part in administering US elections. Democratic FEC Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum stressed this in a post on X. "This has NOTHING to do with voter files or voter registration. Those are maintained by the states. The FEC only handles federal campaign finance findings," she wrote, adding that the agency was working hard to restore its systems as soon as possible.
The timing is sensitive because super PACs and dark money groups are spending record amounts in the closing days of the campaign. According to the political advertising tracker AdImpact, about $11.21bn has been spent or reserved for future advertising in this year's midterms, making them the most expensive US elections in history.
That figure narrowly passes the previous record of $11.2bn set in the 2024 elections. AdImpact's numbers for 2024 include $3.2bn spent in the presidential race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Super PACs are independent political committees that can accept unlimited sums from wealthy individuals and corporations and spend them on campaigns with few restrictions. Brendan Glavin, research director at the nonpartisan watchdog group OpenSecrets, said super PACs and dark money groups have spent an average of $50m per day over the past week.
Glavin said the disruption matters. "It's a big deal," he said. "In the last days of the election, this is the only way for us to keep track of where the money is being spent."
Source: Al Jazeera
