Television test run fuels election fraud claims in Pennsylvania

"ABC accidentally aired election results of Harris winning PA by 5% with 100% in," an October 30, 2024 post on X reads.

The post shares footage of television station WNEP -- ABC's affiliate for Northern Pennsylvania -- as it broadcast an October 27 Formula One race, with graphics seemingly displaying presidential election results showing Democrat Kamala Harris beating her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, with 52 percent of the vote.

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A screenshot of a post on X taken on November 1, 2024

Similar claims alluding to election fraud widely circulated on X, here, here, here, and here.

Both Trump and Harris campaigned in must-win Pennsylvania on the last day of a volatile US presidential race. The battleground is one of seven swing states with a history of alternating between Republican and Democratic winners.

Unfounded claims of election fraud -- including a video pushed by a Russian disinformation network -- have targeted the state. But claims of a rigged election based on the broadcast are baseless.

Tegna -- the media company that owns WNEP -- released a statement on October 27 confirming that the test results did show on screen briefly during a broadcast of the Formula One Mexico Grand Prix, but said: "The numbers were not reflective of any actual vote count" (archived here and here).

"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 statement said.

"Those numbers should not have appeared on the screen, and it was an error by WNEP that they did."

The clip also displayed test results for Libertarian and Green Party presidential candidates, Chase Oliver and Jill Stein and for incumbent US Senator Bob Casey and his Republican challenger Dave McCormick -- with vote counts containing mathematical inconsistencies, as seen below, with McCormick declared as the race's winner despite a lower percentage of votes.

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A screenshot of WNEP broadcast television footage shared in a post on X taken on November 1, 2024

The Pennsylvania secretary of state's office also told AFP on November 1 that the claims circulating online "are false."

Press Secretary Matt Heckel said legal restrictions regarding ballot processing means results could not have been known at the time of the broadcast. 

"Current state law does not permit counties to begin opening mail ballots until 7 am on Election Day. That means county election officials cannot even remove the ballots from the envelopes and prepare them to be scanned until that time," he said in an email.

"Under the Election Code, counties may not even begin to record and publish results until after the polls close at 8 pm Election Day" (archived here).

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about the 2024 US presidential election, here.