Running some tests, eh?
Tensions are already high heading into the 2024 Presidential Election. The last thing we need is more fuel to add to the conspiracy theory fire. Unfortunately though, a local ABC news station in Pennsylvania accidentally aired an “Election Results Test” this past weekend that showed Kamala Harris narrowly beating Donald Trump in the crucial battleground state.
Can you think of any reasons why that might cause some problems?
Videos and screenshots of the “election results” that aired as the network was covering the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix Sunday evening started spreading like wildlife online. As you’ll see below, the lower scroll test on the screen showed Harris earning 52% of the vote to Trump’s 47%, and that 100% of the state had reported.
So basically in this test, Kamala Harris won the critical swing state of Pennsylvania:
WNEP Scranton PA already has the election results posted. @elonmusk @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/eWR1oABWbK
— PrisonElvis (@elivislives) October 27, 2024
Oof…
This accidental airing of fake election results is even more troublesome because of the state in which it happened in. WNEP 16 is Scranton, Pennsylvania’s (home of The Office) official ABC news network. The state is considered to be a toss up in the election, which is why Democrats and Republicans have spent a combined $280 million dollars in advertising in Pennsylvania alone.
And historically, or at least since the turn of the century, whatever candidate wins Pennsylvania usually goes on to win the election. Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016 and became President. The state swung back to blue in 2020, and Joe Biden went on to win the election. Needless to say, both parties see Pennsylvania as a very important state to win.
WNEP 16 quickly came out and clarified that the lower scroll that aired with the F1 race was an accidental test, and that the numbers that generated on the screen were randomly generated:
“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. 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.”
The local news network went on to explain that the numbers and results viewers saw (that eventually sparked an outrage online) would be impossible to calculate, as the state’s law prohibits early votes from being counted until the day of the election. They also profusely apologized for the accidental airing of the election results test:
“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.”
Hopefully those steps that WNEP has taken truly keeps any more election-result-slip-ups from happening, because as I said earlier, the last thing we need heading into election day is more first-Tuesday-in-November-induced stress…
Yes, this actually happened pic.twitter.com/Kmpd796iwJ
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) October 30, 2024
