Russian hackers targeted election systems in 21 states before the 2016 election, DHS official says. Voting and tallying systems that are not connected to the internet can be hacked, expert says. Expert: “Our election infrastructure is not as distant from the internet as it may seem” U.S. election system is not a single election, but 50, separate state elections in which citizens cast ballots in some 185,000 precincts in 9,000-plus local jurisdictions. “The level of effort and scale required to change the outcome of a national election would make it nearly impossible to avoid detection,” DHS official said.”]