ABC ‘Mistakenly’ Releases Tuesday’s Election Results for Pennsylvania: Harris 52%, Trump 47%

AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough

Well, this is awkward.

ABC released the results of the 2024 presidential election in the must-win state of Pennsylvania during the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix telecast. And with 100% of the precincts reporting, the Keystone State went to… Kamala Harris! 

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She captured 52% and Trump only 47%.

How ‘bout that?

The ABC affiliate was WNEP-TV, which covers the northern part of Pennsylvania. Naturally, the station assured everyone that the image was all an “error” and the polling numbers “randomly generated.”

“Those numbers should not have appeared on the screen, and it was an error by WNEP that they did,” the affiliate told The Daily News. “The numbers were randomly generated test results sent out to help news organizations make sure their equipment is working properly in advance of election night.”

But who sent the numbers? Was it an internal message from ABC News? Or from someone else? The statement doesn’t say.

“The numbers were not reflective of any actual vote count,” WNEP continued. “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.”

ABC News, of course, was widely criticized by conservatives for transforming its Sept. 10 presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris into a three-on-one, WWE-style handicap match, with “unbiased” moderators David Muir and Linsey David attacking Trump and assisting Harris. After aggressively “fact checking” Trump and turning a blind eye to Kamala’s multiple fabrications, their track record of bias makes it difficult to accept their explanation at face value.

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Over and over again, all these “errors” and “accidents” by the mainstream media always seem to benefit the Democrats and hurt the Republicans. Strange coincidence, isn’t it?

According to the latest polls, Trump has a narrow lead in Pennsylvania. Because of the outsized importance of the state, its polling numbers have been exhaustingly tracked and recorded for months. So, if this pre-election test was optimized by ABC for accuracy, you’d expect its numbers to err on the side of Trump. 

Right?

But on the other hand, if it was intended to boost Harris and demotivate Trump’s supporters, the easiest way would be to inflate her numbers and declare her the winner. 

This is a favorite tactic of corrupt regimes. In 2013, The Washington Post ran this headline: “Oops: Azerbaijan released election results before voting had even started.” More recently, Venezuela was accused of counting phantom votes from phantom people. Same goes for the country of Georgia.

The bottom line? 

Our country now has less confidence in the legitimacy of our elections. It’s one of the tragic legacies of the 2020 election. The U.S. government has a vested interest in making its elections fair and transparent because if Americans decide that democracy isn’t a viable means to pursue political change, they’re likely to pursue non-democratic tactics.

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And NOBODY wants that.

Exclusively for our VIPs: PR Has a Fatal Flaw in the Closing Days of a Presidential Election

In 2016, 55% of Republicans had faith in the accuracy of presidential elections. By 2020, that number dropped to 44%. And now, in 2024, it’s only 28%.

From ABC moderators rigging presidential debates to phantom numbers “accidentally” declaring Harris the winner, the greatest threat to our democracy has nothing to do with Trump. 

Instead, it has everything to do with the content, conduct, and carelessness of the mainstream media.

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