IT WOULD TAKE 10 MILLION RUSSIANS TO IMPACT AN AMERICAN NATIONAL ELECTION!

With the wild assortment of voting methods and all the voting LOCATIONS nationwide, I say there is no way our national elections can be influenced or altered enough to change the outcome of an election. 

Having said that, the best way to impact election results is by people voting multiple times, people NOT ELIGIBLE to vote going to the polls and voting, and CAST ballots being altered by dishonest poll workers or other election staff.

THIS IS HAPPENING MORE OFTEN WITH EVERY PASSING ELECTION!

Here's a wee history of voting METHODS... the link to the full article is at the bottom of this post.

PAPER BALLOTS:

In 1889, New York became the first American state to use these ballots. Gradually, it came to replace voting by ticket.

Although they were once common, today only 1.7% of registered voters use paper ballots. They are primarily used in small towns, rural areas, or for absentee voting.

MECHANICAL LEVER MACHINES:

Until recently, more than half of all American voters used machines with levers beside the name of each candidate. The voter entered a booth, drew a curtain, and then pulled the levers corresponding to each voting choice. The machines recorded the votes and the numbers of people voting.

In 1892. Rochester, New York, used them four years later and soon they were used across New York State. By 1930, residents of most major American cities voted on mechanical machines. In the 1996 presidential elections, however, roughly 20% of all voters used the machines, which are no longer made.

Note:  When I lived in Raleigh, these lever machines were used in rural areas.  When I was ushered into the voting cubicle, a volunteer showed me how to flip the lever at the top of the machine.  She pushed the STRAIGHT DEMOCRAT handle over, and left it there.  Luckily I shoved it back and flipped the STRAIGHT REPUBLICAN HANDLE, BUT NOT BEFORE NOTING THAT A STRAIGHT VOTE NEGATED ANY CHOICE OF THE VOTER WANTING TO VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE OF ANOTHER PARTY OR OF AN INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE.  STRAIGHT MEANT STRAIGHT and many people missed that!

PUNCH CARDS:

Punch cards were first used in two Georgia counties for the 1964 presidential primary election. In 1996, 37% of all voters used punch cards, including the 3.8 million registered voters in Los Angeles County, the nation's largest electoral jurisdiction.

(Remember the 'dangling chads' in a recent (2000) Florida presidential election - those were punch cards...In the 2000 United States presidential election, many Florida votes used Votomatic-style punched card ballots where incompletely punched holes resulted in partially punched chads: either a "hanging chad", where one or more corners were still attached, or a "fat chad" or "pregnant chad", where all corners were still attached, but an indentation appears to have been made. These votes were not counted by the tabulating machines.[2][3] The aftermath of the controversy (see Bush v. Gore) caused the rapid discontinuance of punch card ballots in the United States.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chad_(paper)

MARKSENSE:  (I call this the PAPER BALLOT/MACHINE SCANNER)

The marksense system, also known as optical scan, is becoming more popular. In 1996, 25% of all American voters used the system. Optical scanning calls for voters to use a black marker fill in a circle, or box beside their voting choice. A scanning machine then picks up the dark markers on the paper, tabulating the results.

DIRECT RECORDING ELECTRONIC (DRE)

The direct recording electronic method, DRE, uses a voting machine with the candidates printed on a computer screen. The voters push a button or the appropriate spot on the surface to record their choices. Those wishing to write-in a candidate are able to use a keyboard to type the name. In 2004, nearly 29% of voters used a DRE system.

HAND COUNT:

Used in localities where election results may be too close to call.

The entire point of this is that…. With 50 states and Puerto Rico voting, there are many, many methods of taking and calibrating votes.  Voting begins with the state, then down to the counties, then to the precincts within the county.  We as voters rely on the integrity of those working the polls at the local level.  

VERY FEW OF THESE FOLKS ARE RUSSIANS!!!  

https://www.infoplease.com/us/government/elections/election-ballots-types-and-history