An image of what looks like an ABC News affiliate in Moosic, Pennsylvania, near downtown Scranton, prematurely airing 2024 presidential election results is spreading on social media alongside claims of election interference.
“Explain THIS,” an Oct. 30 X post said, sharing an image from WNEP-TV’s broadcast of a Formula 1 race that included a chyron appearing to show Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris winning the state with 52% of the vote. “How do you know ELECTION RESULTS for Pennsylvania BEFORE the election?? How do you know the EXACT number of votes? You do know YOU will be imprisoned for CHEATING when Trump wins don’t you?”
The post included hashtags supportive of former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.
“The ‘FIX’ is in,” another X post said. “You’ll never guess who ‘won.’”
“Already rigging PA even the news media is on it,” yet another said.
“So has anyone seen this yet???” an Oct. 28 Facebook post said, also sharing an image from the broadcast. “WNEP accidentally aired these PA results for the upcoming election!! And you’re going to tell me they don’t cheat?? BULLS—!!!”
The Facebook post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)
The image from the broadcast is authentic, but it’s missing context.
WNEP published an Oct. 27 statement on its website explaining that election test results were mistakenly shown on air.
“These numbers should not have appeared on the screen, and it was an error by WNEP that they did,” the statement said. “The numbers 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.”
Such a mistake has happened before.
In 2020, before that year’s presidential election, a Detroit TV station accidentally aired test election results during an airing of “The Bachelorette.” WXYZ-TV Detroit, also an ABC News affiliate, aired a sidebar that appeared to show Trump winning Michigan with 50% of the vote to then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s 44%. In reality, Biden took the state with 50.6% of the vote.
In 2022, before Arizona’s gubernatorial race, a Phoenix TV station did something similar during its newscast. KSAZ-TV in Phoenix aired a graphic that appeared to show Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs winning the Arizona governorship with 53% of the vote. When all the votes were counted, she won with 50.33%.
Claims that a Pennsylvania TV station aired election results before Election Day are partially accurate but leave out important details or take things out of context. We rate them Half True.
This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.
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