An ABC station sparked a flurry of conspiracy theories after airing what appeared to be official election results for Pennsylvania that showed Kamala Harris easily winning the key state — more than a week before Election Day.
The shocking result was shown at the bottom of the screen during Sunday’s broadcast of the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix by local ABC affiliate WNEP-TV, which serves the northern Keystone State.
It showed the vice president taking 52% of the vote, compared to 47% for Republican challenger Donald Trump, with 100% of precincts reporting.
The graphic caused a stir on social networks, fueling allegations of electoral manipulation.
One user posted on X: “The cheat is on.”
WNEP-TV said the results were displayed “in error” and that they were “randomly generated” as part of a test before the Nov. 5 election.
“These numbers should not have been shown on the screen and it was a mistake by WNEP that they did,” the station told the Daily Mail, which first reported the story.
“The first numbers on the screen are randomly generated test results sent to help news organizations make sure their equipment is working properly before election night.”
The broadcaster continued: “The numbers did not reflect any actual vote count. Pennsylvania law does not allow mail-in ballots to be removed from their envelopes until 7:00 a.m. on Election Day, and no votes of any kind will be counted in Pennsylvania until the polls close at 8 p.m. :00. WNEP regrets the error and apologizes for any confusion. We have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again.”
According to data from Real Clear Politics, Trump is up by a slim 0.7% margin in Pennsylvania, garnering 48.2% to Harris’ 47.5%.
In the 2020 election, Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by the narrowest of margins, defeating Trump by 80,555 votes, or 1.17% — and capturing the state’s 20 electoral votes to win the presidency.
Trump supporters began circulating footage from the WNEP-TV broadcast and weighing in on the error.
“ABC is lying to the Democratic machine. Their license should be revoked”, wrote one user.
Another person added: “If the same charts show up after November 5th, with the same percentages and the same vote count, it will be VERY suspicious. And the media wonders why no one believes them?”
Disney-owned ABC has come under fire during the election season, following the network’s broadcast of the Sept. 10 presidential debate. Critics accused ABC News and moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of bias in favor of Harris.
Conservative commentators claimed the moderators continued to fact-check Trump while leaving Harris alone.
There have also been profiles of the duel by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times detailing the close friendship between Harris and Disney executive 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 Mouse House news division, despite a history of political donations and fundraising efforts for Harris.
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