An ABC station ignited a flurry of conspiracy theories after it aired what appeared to be official election results for Pennsylvania that showed Kamala Harris easily winning the key swing state — more than a week before Election Day.
The shocking result popped up at the bottom of the screen during Sunday’s broadcast of the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix by ABC local affiliate WNEP-TV, which serves the northern part of the Keystone State.
It showed the vice president capturing 52% of the votes, compared to 47% for Republican challenger Donald Trump, with 100% of the precincts reporting.
The graphic caused a stir on social media, prompting claims of election rigging.
One user posted on X: “The cheat is on.”
WNEP-TV said the results came up on the screen in “error” and that they had been “randomly generated” as part of a test ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
“Those numbers should not have appeared on the screen, and it was an error by WNEP that they did,” the station told the Daily Mail, which first reported the story.
“The numbers seen on the screen were randomly generated test results sent out to help news organizations make sure their equipment is working properly in advance of election night.”
The broadcaster continued: “The numbers were not reflective of any actual vote count. Pennsylvania law does not allow mail-in ballots to be taken out of their envelopes until 7:00 a.m. on Election Day, and no votes of any kind will be counted in Pennsylvania until after the polls close at 8:00 p.m. WNEP regrets the error and apologizes for any confusion. We have taken steps to ensure that it does not happen again.”
Trump is up by a razor-thin margin of 0.7% in Pennsylvania, garnering 48.2% to Harris’ 47.5%, according to data from Real Clear Politics.
In the 2020 election, Joe Biden eked out a victory in Pennsylvania by the narrowest of margins, beating Trump by 80,555 votes, or 1.17% — and snatching the state’s 20 electoral votes to win the presidency.
Trump supporters began circulating the footage from WNEP-TV’s broadcast and weighing in on the error.
“ABC is cheating for the Democrat machine. Their license should be revoked,” wrote one user.
Another person added: “If the same graphics pop up after November 5th, with the same percentages & the same vote count, it’ll be EXTREMELY suspicious. And the media wonders why nobody trusts them?”
Disney-owned ABC has been under fire during the election season, following the network’s airing of the presidential debate on September 10. Critics accused ABC News and moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of bias in favor of Harris.
Conservative commentators claimed that the moderators continued to fact-check Trump while they left Harris alone.
There have also been dueling profiles from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, detailing the close friendship between Harris and Disney exec Dana Walden, who is in the running to become the company’s CEO, which has raised eyebrows.
For her part, Walden has tried to distance herself from the news division of the Mouse House, despite a history of political donations and fundraising efforts for Harris.
