ABC has sparked wild conspiracy theories after mistakenly broadcasting Pennsylvania election results.
The results appeared on the ticker at the bottom of the screen during a broadcast of the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix on local ABC affiliate WNEP-TV on Sunday.
It showed Kamala Harris winning the state with 52 percent of the vote, while Donald Trump’s turnout was 47 percent.
It instantly sparked claims of voter fraud on social media, with one person tweeting: “The hoax is on.”
WNEP-TV said the numbers appeared on the screen by “error” and had been “randomly generated” as part of a test before the Nov. 5 election night.
The results appeared on the ticker at the bottom of the screen on local ABC affiliate WNEP-TV early Sunday during a broadcast of the Mexican Formula 1 Grand Prix. The ticker showed Kamala Harris winning the state with 52 percent of the vote, while Donald Trump’s turnout was at 47 percent.
Kamala Harris waves to supporters before speaking during a Get Out the Vote rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, on October 30.
Trump currently leads the state by 0.6 percentage points in an average of major Real Clear Politics polls.
Biden won Pennsylvania by the narrowest margin in 2020, beating Trump by 80,555 votes or 1.17 percent.
Democrats have accused Trump and his allies of laying the groundwork to challenge a possible loss by stoking doubts about the legitimacy of the election.
He has portrayed Democrats as cheats, called mail-in votes corrupt and urged his supporters to vote in such large numbers that the election would be “too big to rig.”
In response to the WNEP-TV broadcast, one person wrote on And the media wonders why no one trusts them?
Another said: “ABC is cheating for the Democratic machine.” Their license should be revoked.’
In a statement, the station said, “Those numbers should not have appeared on the screen, and it was WNEP’s mistake for them to do so.”
‘The numbers seen on the screen were randomly generated test results sent to help news organizations make sure their equipment is working properly before election night.
Donald Trump gestures at a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 29.
‘The figures 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 after the polls close at 8 a.m. :00 pm
‘WNEP regrets the error and apologizes for any confusion. “We have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again.”
ABC has already come under fire from Trump and his supporters for its alleged bias during the Sept. 10 presidential debate.
Conservative commentators claimed that moderators continually fact-checked Trump while giving Harris a free pass.
Additionally, an anonymous whistleblower alleged that ABC provided questions to the Harris campaign before the debate.