A Pennsylvania-based ABC affiliate has issued an apology after airing "test" election results during last weekend's Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix.
The affiliate for Northeastern Tennessee had a ticker on the bottom third that showed Vice President Kamala Harris winning the Presidential Election over former President Donald Trump 52-47. The ticker showed that 3,293,712 people voted for Harris and only 2,997,793 voted for Trump with 100% reporting.
The "test" results also showed Democrat Sen. Bob Casey having 53% of the votes in his reelection bid and Republican candidate David McCormick having 45% of the votes.
🚨Weird News: WNEP-TV in Scranton, PA which is an ABC News affiliate showed the presidential election results for PA
The results show Harris winning by 5 points 52-47 and Casey winning by 8 points
The station called it a test run
What is your response?
pic.twitter.com/71ufDvEPHh— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) October 30, 2024
"Test results for the upcoming November 5 general election mistakenly appeared on WNEP-TV early Sunday evening during a broadcast of the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix," the statement said.
"Those numbers should not have appeared on the screen, and it was an error by WNEP that they did. 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 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."
The test took place after millions of people began casting their votes for President of the United States of America. Many completed early voting in person at numerous possible locations. Others used mail-in ballots.
As in years past, this is a divisive time of election season, so the incident during the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix prompted many people to weigh in.
Some voiced their distrust of the test while others said that something similar had happened in Arizona back in 2022.
"This seems to happen before every general election," one person posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.