A local ABC station triggered a wave of conspiracy theories when it displayed what looked like official election results from Pennsylvania, showing Kamala Harris winning the state easily—well over a week ahead of Election Day.

The unexpected results briefly appeared on-screen during ABC affiliate WNEP-TV’s broadcast of the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix on Sunday. WNEP-TV, which serves northern Pennsylvania, showed Vice President Harris leading with 52% of the vote against Donald Trump’s 47%, with the graphic suggesting all precincts had reported.

The appearance of the numbers created a firestorm on social media, where users began questioning the integrity of the election process.

One X user commented, “The cheat is on.”

In response, WNEP-TV explained that the displayed results were a mistake, describing them as “randomly generated” numbers used as a test in advance of the upcoming 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 initially broke the story.

The station elaborated: “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.”

WNEP also clarified that the numbers were not representative of any real vote count. According to Pennsylvania law, no mail-in ballots are to be opened until 7:00 a.m. on Election Day, and no vote counting will begin until polls close at 8:00 p.m. The station added, “WNEP regrets the error and apologizes for any confusion. We have taken steps to ensure that it does not happen again.”

Currently, Trump holds a narrow lead in Pennsylvania, edging out Harris with a 0.7% margin. According to Real Clear Politics, he leads with 48.2% to her 47.5%.

In the 2020 election, Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by a slim margin, defeating Trump by 80,555 votes or 1.17%, thereby securing the state’s 20 electoral votes and clinching the presidency.

Footage from the WNEP-TV broadcast quickly circulated among Trump supporters, who shared their reactions to the apparent error.

“ABC is cheating for the Democrat machine. Their license should be revoked,” one person wrote.

Another commented, “If the same graphics pop up after November 5th, with the same percentages & the same vote count, it’ll be EXTREMELY suspicious. And the media wonders why nobody trusts them?”

This incident adds to scrutiny of ABC, which has faced criticism throughout the election season, including backlash over its handling of the September 10 presidential debate. Critics claimed that ABC News and moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis were biased, fact-checking Trump while seemingly avoiding pressing Harris on various issues.

Further fueling skepticism, both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times recently published profiles that explored the close friendship between Harris and Dana Walden, a Disney executive who is reportedly in the running to become the company’s CEO, raising questions about the network’s impartiality.

For her part, Walden has attempted to distance herself from ABC’s news division, though she has a history of political donations and fundraising support for Harris.

{Matzav.com}