Election results ‘erroneously’ aired on ABC

The ABC affiliate received major backlash after the station aired Pennsylvania’s 2024 election results more than a week before Election Day.

A video posted on X (formerly Twitter), shows a ticker of election results at the bottom of the screen on Sunday during the television broadcast of the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix on WNEP-TV, which is the local ABC affiliate.

The video shows election results showing Vice President Kamala Harris with 52 percent of the vote and former President Donald Trump with 47 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential election.

Following the TV channel’s error, several social media users said the incident indicated potential fraud in the 2024 presidential election.

One social network user tweeted“If the same graphic appears after November 5th, with the same percentages and the same vote count, it will be VERY suspicious. And the media wonders why no one trusts them?”

Another social network user commented“ABC is deceiving the democratic machine. Their license should be revoked.” Meanwhile, the third social network user wrote“And so the ABC reveals its involvement in fraud by accidentally showing live what they called the results of their test elections. Kamala wins PA by 5%. Does anyone believe these liars anymore?”

READ MORE: China election interference targets GOP, report says

In connection with the Sunday incident, WNEP-TV published a message statementstating, “Test results for the upcoming November 5 general election mistakenly appeared on WNEP-TV early Sunday evening during its broadcast of the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix.”

WNEP-TV clarified that the election results shown during the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix “should not have appeared” on television and said the incident was a “mistake.”

“The numbers displayed on the screen are randomly generated test results sent out to help news organizations ensure their equipment is working properly before Election Night,” WNEP-TV added. “The numbers did not reflect the actual vote count.”

WNEP-TV clarified that Pennsylvania election laws do not allow mail-in ballots to be “removed from their envelopes until 7:00 a.m. on Election Day” and that no votes in Pennsylvania will be counted until polls close at 8:00 a.m. next Tuesday evening.

WNEP-TV told viewers it “regrets the error and apologizes for any confusion” caused by Sunday’s incident. The ABC affiliate also said it has “taken steps” to ensure the broadcast error does not happen again in the future.