An infographic from an ABC News affiliate called the presidential election in Pennsylvania at 5 p.m. on Sunday, October 27.
The results appeared on the ticker at the bottom of television screens during a broadcast of the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix by ABC local affiliate WNEP-TV, which services a part of northern Pennsylvania.
It showed Vice President Kamala Harris capturing 52% of votes, while former president Donald Trump trailed with just 47%. According to the graphic, this amounted to around 3,300,000 votes for Harris and 3,000,000 voted for Trump, with 100% of precincts reporting.
However, these shocking results come almost two weeks shy of Election Day.
ABC accidentally aired election results of Harris winning PA by 5% with 100% in pic.twitter.com/VTJCjH92uh
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 30, 2024
Twitter accounts such as End Wokeness tweeted the image, stating, “ABC accidentally aired election results of Harris winning PA by 5% with 100% in.”
Some users, like retired general and former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, responded to the image saying, “Her campaign and the media are keep the ‘polls’ and this race ‘close’ so they can plausibly deny the victory to trump. A total set up. What is going on here ABC???”
“Those numbers should not have appeared on the screen, and it was an error by WNEP that they did,” the broadcaster said to the Daily Mail.
“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 explanation continued.
WNEP-TV assured readers that the results had been “randomly generated” and were merely part of a test ahead of the November 5 election.
“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,” the ABC affiliate added.
Some on social media consider this “mistake” a sign, posting that “The cheat is on,” reported the Daily Mail.
FiveThirtyEight, a website that catalogs nearly every poll published in major races, has Trump’s lead over Harris average to about half a point in the Keystone State.
However, recent polls show that Trump has a lead of between 1 and 3 points.