Given the way the 2020 election disputes were handled, many Americans are now deeply skeptical of the supposed integrity of U.S. election processes and are on watch for any evidence of fraud or rigged results.

They had to look no further than a local ABC affiliate in Pennsylvania on Sunday that briefly aired a banner on the screen which showed that Vice President Kamala Harris had handily defeated former President Donald Trump to win the state, Breitbart reported.

The election results banner, shown more than a week before the election, instantly fueled accusations of cheating and conspiracy theories about fraud and forced the local station to issue an apology for the "confusion" it caused with "mistakenly" aired "test results" that were never supposed to have been broadcast.

On-screen banner shows purported Harris victory in Pennsylvania

On Sunday, ABC and its affiliates across the country aired the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix race, during which Pennsylvania affiliate WNEP-TV, which is based in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, broadcast a banner on the bottom of the screen for several moments that purported to show the results of the 2024 election.

The banner showed the Democratic nominee, VP Harris, winning the state by five points, 52-47%, over the Republican nominee, former President Trump, with 3.29 million votes for her compared to 2.99 million votes for him, with 100% of precincts reporting results.

The banner also showed incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) defeating his Republican challenger, Dave McCormick, by an even wider margin, 53-45%, with Casey allegedly drawing 2.29 million votes compared to 1.97 million for McCormick -- though, curiously, the winning check mark was next to McCormick's name instead of Casey's.

Outraged accusations and conspiracy theories about cheating

The New York Post, among other outlets, reported that the supposed election results for Pennsylvania aired more than a week before the election resulted in an explosion on social media of accusations and conspiracy theories.

Some critics suggested the banner was evidence of cheating and a rigged election, with some further accusing ABC of being a party to the apparent fraud.

One particular skeptic noted, "If the same graphics pop up after November 5th, with the same percentages & the same vote count, it’ll be EXTREMELY suspicious. And the media wonders why nobody trusts them?"

Local station "regrets the error and apologizes for any confusion"

In response to the online uproar, WNEP-TV said in a statement, "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 statement 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."

The station added, "WNEP regrets the error and apologizes for any confusion. We have taken steps to ensure that it does not happen again."

"Venezuela-like" false test results

While not everyone will buy that explanation in this era of deep distrust of the media, one who did accept it was Mark Mitchell, the head pollster at Rasmussen Reports, largely because of how wildly different the erroneously aired test results were from what actual polling shows of Pennsylvania, where former President Trump leads VP Harris by an average of 0.8 points.

Mitchell shared a viral video of the mistaken broadcast and wrote in an X post, "Sigh. This is obviously test data plugged in by an idiot. The McCormick check mark isn't even right. A Harris 5% PA win would be Venezuela-like."