I think it would be more appropriate to say that Russian influence socially engineered the 2016 election rather than outright hacked the election.

One other thing to consider: US elections are by definition secure from a wholesale hacking on account of the election being run on a patchwork of systems that differ from state to state (and sometimes county to county or even precinct to precinct). However, this same design and subsequent long list of vulnerabilities found in election machines and their software means that it would be possible to tip crucial precincts and districts in surgical, spear-phishing style attacks that may not attract all that much attention.

Isn't there some question over whether Russia supplied illegally obtained data, such as emails or voter registration details (or metadata generated from said data), to the Trump campaign? That's more than social engineering. It's potentially hacking and collusion.

EDIT: Wow, quick to downvote. I thought we were in favor of waiting until the investigation concludes to say decisively whether or not collusion happened.

A GOP consultant named Aaron Nevins requested and received detailed campaign data from Guccifer 2 that was hacked from the Dems.

This included the Dem voter turnout model, "worth millions" according to Nevins.

Guccifer 2 forwarded Nevin's analysis to Trump associate Roger Stone.

Story at Wall Street Journal, May 25 2017. Short non pay wall version on Ars Technica.

There have been reports of voter data being manipulated, with some voters being unregistered shortly before election day.

I can dig up further info if anybody wants, but it shouldn't be too hard to find. This is the first report I came across:

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/voter-data-manipula...

That was a rather old article. See https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-13/russian-b...

Also see Russian activities in the Ukraine, Bulgaria, etc.

They hacked more than the DNC. Lots of competitive districts had their Dems hacked, and the propaganda campaign using bots and fake news.

> To me it seems disingenuous to call that "election hacking".

Really, you've never heard of social engineering/hacking? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_hacking

If I broke the pin on your smartphone and obtained evidence of infidelity on your part and gave it to your wife, did I hack your marriage?

You hacked his phone. You influenced his wife.

Wife hacking?