How could the Russians have "hacked" our elections?

[( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

For those of you who have the knowledge of systems, how could this have been possible the way voting is set up? If you could give a brief description of how the systems are set up and then give an example of how they could have been compromised then that would be great. Thanks!

 

[Winken]

The voting machines, computers, systems themselves weren't hacked. The attempt was to influence voters to vote for one candidate or another. That is not to say that it couldn't happen --- the computer nerds are constantly working on it.

 

[Vyrzaharak]

Not that I'll say they were hacked, but to assume it's impossible is a bold-faced lie no different from claiming that a Macintosh computer cannot be infected with viruses or malware. Every system has its faults, why would a voting machine be any different? So the real question is a matter of whether it actually happened and who managed the hacking if so, as far as the 2016 election is concerned.

(It should also be noted that prior to the 2016 election, if you take them at face value, the Republicans were under the belief we needed tighter security for our elections and Democrats believed otherwise.)