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NEW YORK POST
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.”
