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A local news station mistakenly aired election results declaring Vice President Kamala Harris as the winner in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania ahead of Election Day, leading to a flurry of conspiracy theories among supporters of former President Donald Trump.
WNEP-TV, an ABC local affiliate with markets in the northeastern part of the Keystone State, showed Harris winning Pennsylvania by a 52% to 47% margin with 100% precincts reporting during the live broadcast of the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix on Sunday (October 27). Several conservatives took the incident as a sign that the election was rigged against Trump in posts shared on social media.
“The cheat is on," one user wrote on X.
WNEP-TV issued a statement addressing the incident, claiming the numbers "were randomly generated test results" in order to make sure its equipment would be ready for election night.
"Test results for the upcoming November 5 general election mistakenly appeared on WNEP-TV early Sunday evening during a broadcast of the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix," the station said. "Those numbers should not have appeared on the screen, and it was an error by WNEP that they did.
"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 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."