False Election Results Were Displayed During a Televised ABC Formula 1 Race
Election results in Pennsylvania named Kamala Harris the winner of that state.
Published Oct. 31 2024, 12:26 p.m. ET
No matter which side you're rooting for and voting for in the 2024 presidential election, there is no denying that the race is likely to be close. However, for those extra important states, like Pennsylvania, the campaign for Democrats and Republicans is even more important.
So, when ABC aired fake election results in Pennsylvania well ahead of Election Day, it caused controversy.
The reason why Pennsylvania is so important for politicians is that it has the most electoral votes out of all the other swing states. In 2016, former President Donald Trump won Pennsylvania and won the election as a whole.
In 2020, voters flipped and voted in favor of President Joe Biden, which means the controversy surrounding ABC airing incorrect voting results is a big deal.
What happened with ABC's fake election results controversy?
On Oct. 30, while a Formula 1 race aired on ABC television, election results from Pennsylvania suddenly appeared at the bottom of the screen. According to those results, Vice President Kamala Harris won by 5 percent in the state. However, since the election isn't until Nov. 5, viewers had to pause and stare at the screen, wondering what the results meant.
For some, it became a controversy that made it seem as though the election was "rigged" in some way. For others, it was a way for the network to test out coverage results with numbers that don't mean anything.
And when someone shared a video of the TV footage on X, another user who works in television commented on the post to share a logical explanation.
"I work in TV," they wrote. "To be fair, they could be running these graphics as stand-ins for election coverage rehearsals and someone accidentally sent them out live. Certainly doesn't rule out something more sinister, but just saying."
Other users felt that there is something more serious at work, like the Democratic party already working in overdrive (no pun intended, given the Formula 1 race) to make sure Harris wins. But according to WNEP-TV, which is the local ABC affiliate station, it was an accident.
"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 station shared in a statement with WBZ NewsRadio.
