[efuquen]

Hacking the election doesn't mean having to actually flip votes, though the Russians clearly tried to do that and we don't know if they were successful. What is clear is that they tried to infiltrate election machines and the companies that produced them, on a grand scale. What is also clear is they waged a very successful propaganda campaign that pushed fake news stories, primarily through social media. Votes could have been effected by the former and almost certainly by the latter. Again, as the article points out below you wouldn't have to flip votes to effect outcomes, simply keeping people from voting could be enough, especially in a close election.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/us/politics/russia-electi...