A suspected case of mass voter registration fraud was caught by election officials in a key county of an important swing state just a couple of weeks before the 2024 election.

State and local authorities in Pennsylvania are now investigating around 2,500 potentially fraudulent voter registration forms in Lancaster County that were submitted shortly before the deadline, according to Fox News.

Lancaster County's Board of Elections and District Attorney are now reviewing the suspicious applications with support from the Commonwealth's Department of State and state attorney general's office, and officials sought to reassure Pennsylvanians that certain safeguards in place had worked to catch the potential attempted fraud.

Suspected fraud could involve up to 2,500 voter registration forms

Lancaster Online reported that District Attorney Heather Adams and several county commissioners held a press conference on Friday to alert the public about the suspected voter registration fraud and to let everyone know that it had been caught and was being investigated.

The suspicious forms numbered around 2,500 and were dropped off in two batches at or near Monday's submission deadline, with some of the forms dated as far back as June. Most of the forms were from the city of Lancaster but some came from several small towns in the surrounding area, and Adams insinuated that the suspected fraud was an "organized" effort that also occurred and was being probed in at least two other counties, though she declined to name those counties or any suspected culprits.

Without specifying how many of the applications had been reviewed thus far, Adams revealed that investigators had found problems with around 60% of them. Those problems included incorrect addresses, fake identifications, and false names, among other things, and Adams insisted that genuine forms with correct information would be processed and registered.

Hundreds of forms submitted with incorrect information

According to local NBC affiliate WGAL, DA Adams said on Friday, "Staff noticed that numerous applications appeared to have the same handwriting (and) were filled out on the same day. The confirmed indicators of fraud that detectives came across were inaccuracies with the addresses listed on the applications, fake and false personal identification information, as well as false names."

"Also, applications that had names that did not match the provided Social Security information," she continued and further noted that while some of the forms had correct information, the individuals listed insisted they had not requested or filled out the registration form when contacted by investigators.

"At this point, we have confirmed violation of our crimes code as well as our elections code. We have all available detectives working on this," Adams said. "We are all hands on deck so that we can properly assess the validity of these applications in a timely manner. If needed, we will request additional assistance from our local police departments."

As for who is suspected of being behind the suspected attempted voter registration fraud, the DA wouldn't say but did suggest that it "appears to be an organized effort at this point," and added, "But of course, it's an ongoing investigation and we'll be looking into who exactly participated it and how far up it goes."

Lancaster County Commissioner Ray D'Agostino was asked during the news conference if one party or the other was responsible, but he replied, "I can say it, it does not appear at this point. It, it doesn't seem that it's any one party. In some cases, they're registering in different parties. In some cases, they're just changing an address or at least appearing to change an address."

Both GOP and Dems deny responsibility

Lancaster Online reported separately that there was some frustration about the failure of the DA and county commissioners to provide more specific information and "crucial details" to the public about the potential voter registration fraud and which organizations or parties may be behind it, though Adams did say that it appears they are "connected to a large-scale canvassing operation for voter registrations."

Lancaster County GOP Chairman Kirk Radanovic told the outlet that he was "unaware of who may be involved with the actions described during today's press conference. We can tell you that the description of paid canvassers approaching voters on the streets of Lancaster City and mentioned boroughs does not meet the description of GOP and affiliated campaign volunteers."

A similar denial came from Lancaster County Democrats Vice Chair Stella Sexton, who said, "We have no reason to believe it was affiliated with any Democratic candidate’s campaign in the county," and instead claimed that Democrat-aligned canvassers either help individuals register to vote online or simply leave the registration forms with them.