Democrats Caught in Another Pre-Election Scare, Falsified 2024 Results Spotted
An Instagram post has recently brought to light a rather amusing incident. The occurrence revolves around an image from a Formula 1 telecast, featuring an unexpected focus on the supposed vote totals for VP Kamala Harris and President Donald Trump. The question is raised: ‘Could ABC have ‘accidentally’ displayed Pennsylvania’s Presidential election results with a 100% count, showing a 5% Harris victory?’
The caption of this Instagram post insists: ‘Cheating is already in progress. What a re-run! Can we possibly expect an honest election?’ It creates an atmosphere of skepticism which, given a basic understanding of American election process, seems to be rather misplaced or plainly put, unsubstantiated.
The truth behind the circumstance though is entirely non-malicious: a mistake made by an ABC affiliate in Pennsylvania, who inadvertently aired spotlighted results of the 2024 presidential election as part of their Election Day coverage preparations.
A Pennsylvania Department of State spokesperson also made it clear that these results were not real, hinting at an important fact – at this point, the state had not begun counting its mail-in ballots. Whispers of ‘authentic’ off-schedule election results thus were baseless.
The image displaying these so-called election results originated from an Oct. 27 broadcast of the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix by WNEP-TV, an ABC affiliate in northeastern and central Pennsylvania. The tally of votes for Harris and Trump that flashed during the televised race were unequivocally not genuine.
WNEP-TV released a statement stating that the numbers, contrary to the claims of foul play, were actually part of random generation tests. These tests are routinely conducted by news organizations, this one specifically to ensure their equipment was functioning correctly before the big election night.
The station’s statement revealed, ‘The numbers seen on screen were merely randomly generated results meant as a dry-run to assist news companies in checking equipment efficiency before election coverage. Certainly no reflection of real voting counts.’ Clearly the rumors of cheating were inflated and baseless.
Matt Heckel, representing the Pennsylvania Department of State strongly asserted that it’s ‘not possible’ for the TV station to have aired genuine election results from the state, simply due to the fact that at the time, the mail-in ballots were yet to be processed.
Pulling from current state law, Heckel explained that mail ballots cannot be opened before 7 a.m. on Election Day. ‘No county election officers are allowed to remove the ballots from envelopes or even prepare them for scanning until the designated time.’
Additionally, Heckel stated that no county is permitted to record or publish results prior to the closing of polls at 8 p.m. on Election Day. This ruling, forming part of Pennsylvania’s Election Code, effectively rules out the possibility of prematurely leaked election results.
This guidance is in line with the Pennsylvania Department of State’s recommendations; these recommendations strongly emphasise the inappropriate nature of releasing early count results and reaffirm the strict regulations regarding pre-canvassing and canvassing absentee and mail-in ballots.
An infiltration of artificial data into serious election discourse serves no one and only fuels unproductive suspicions. Instead of engaging in blame games, one can leverage moments of such disarray to ensure a tightened Electoral Code.