The commission was unable to function from late August 2019 to December 2020, with an exception for the period of May 2020 to July 2020, due to lack of a quorum.

[7] In December 2020, three commissioners were appointed to restore a quorum; however, deadlocks arising from the equal number of members from the Republican and Democratic parties with the absence of a tie-breaking vote has resulted in some controversial investigations not being pursued.

[8] Congress then amended the FECA to comply with Buckley and now the six FEC commissioners are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

When Matthew Petersen (Republican) resigned on August 31, 2019, the commission had only three commissioners, and was unable to conduct most of its regulatory and decision-making functions due to lack of a quorum.

It enforces limitations and prohibitions on contributions and expenditures, administers the reporting system for campaign finance disclosure, investigates and prosecutes violations (investigations are typically initiated by complaints from other candidates, parties, watchdog groups, and the public), audits a limited number of campaigns and organizations for compliance, and administers the presidential public funding programs for presidential candidates.

Under the Federal Election Campaign Act, information about individual contributors taken from FEC reports cannot be sold or used for soliciting political or charitable contributions, or for any commercial purpose.

The FEC authorizes reporting committees to include up to ten fictitious records as a means to detect data misuse.

[8][23] Critics have argued that the even number of commissioners and the supermajority requirement was a "set up for deadlock and political shenanigans,"[24] especially in an age of polarization.

Others point out, however, that the commissioners rarely divide evenly along partisan lines, and that the response time problem may be endemic to the enforcement procedures established by Congress.

The FEC ruled that federal candidates can use campaign funds to pay for childcare costs that result from time spent running for office.

[36] On May 6, 2021, the FEC closed an inquiry into whether the payment to Stormy Daniels by Donald Trump violated campaign financial law during the 2016 election.

[37] Republican Vice Chairman Allen Dickerson recused himself, while independent Commissioner Steven Walther did not vote.

[38] Similarly, in June 2021, the FEC found that National Enquirer violated US election laws and $150,000 paid by AMI to Karen McDougal amounted to an illegal campaign contribution.

[39] In June 2023, the FEC deadlocked over requests to create guidelines for campaign advertisements which use content generated by artificial intelligence.