Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral votes, is the biggest swing state in the nation, with both campaigns targeting the Keystone State as crucial to their chances of victory next week.

But only one of those candidates is espousing claims of voter fraud in the state: former President Donald Trump has already baselessly accused the state of “cheating” at “large scale levels,” laying the groundwork for claims of a stolen election much like after his loss to Joe Biden in 2020.

Even as officials in Pennsylvania try to push back, some voters say the back-and-forth has left them confused — and election administrators are left frustrated.

“Criticizing volunteers for properly engaging in permissible electioneering damages our efforts to address the serious issues that can arise from voter intimidation,” Al Schmidt, the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a Republican, said as he sought to dispel some of the election misinformation floating around.

“Non-partisan election officials are doing their jobs across Pennsylvania, and they are working very hard to ensure we have free, fair, safe and secure elections,” Schmidt said, without mentioning Trump by name.

Trump and other Republicans aired their claims during a rally in Allentown earlier this week.

“They got caught cheating in Lancaster County,” Trump claimed, without evidence. “They got caught in York.”

In Lancaster County, which Trump won with nearly 60% of the vote four years ago, officials are investigating 2,500 suspected fraudulent voter registration applications that were dropped off shortly before the deadline to register. Some had false names, suspicious handwriting, questionable signatures, incorrect addresses or other problematic details.

Lancaster District Attorney Heather Adams, who was backed by Republicans when she ran for the role, said that any speculation about intent is “premature.”

“The fact of the matter is, we’ve contained this,” said Lancaster Commissioner Ray D’Agostino, a Republican who chairs the election board. “This is not right. It’s illegal. It’s immoral. And we found it, and we’re going to take care of it.”

D’Agostino said the applications were not limited to a single party and had been collected at various spots in Republican-majority Lancaster.

York County, which Trump also won in 2020 by more than 58,000 votes, is investigating a similar incident involving a smaller batch of applications.

“Wow! York County, Pennsylvania, received THOUSANDS of potentially FRAUDULENT Voter Registration Forms and Mail-In Ballot Applications from a third party group,” Trump wrote on social media, adding: “Really bad 'stuff.' WHAT IS GOING ON IN PENNSYLVANIA???”

Election officials in the county said Wednesday, according to a local NBC affiliate, that of the 3,000 flagged applications, 47% were approved and verified, another 29% were incomplete and 24% were declined; some of those were duplicate requests.

Also Wednesday, Trump sued Bucks County, just outside of Philadelphia, after long lines on the final day of in-person mail voting led to complaints that voters were being disenfranchised by an unprepared election office. A judge sided with Trump and extended the deadline until Friday.

In a post on social media, Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said that Trump’s comments were part of his “same playbook” from four years ago.

“Let’s remember, in 2020, Donald Trump attacked our elections over and over,” Shapiro said. “He’s now trying to use the same playbook to stoke chaos, but hear me on this: we will again have a free and fair, safe and secure election — and the will of the people will be respected.”

But in Allentown, some supporters of Trump’s were unsure of what to believe.

“To put complete trust in election officials and the process would be a mistake,” said Dan McCauley.

“I don’t think we have a choice,” said Juan DeJesus. “I think we have to accept what comes.”

The chair of the Lehigh County Republican Committee, Joe Vichot, said that he trusts Schmidt, a Republican who was appointed by Shapiro in June.

“I trust our secretary of state,” said Vichot. “I think he’s working hard to make sure there’s fairer elections.”

When asked what his message is to the voters of Pennsylvania, Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son, said, “I think you’ve got to see what happens.”

There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, a statement backed up by officials in both parties, including Trump’s own Attorney General William Barr. Claims of widespread fraud brought by Trump and his allies were rejected from courts nationwide, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Trump campaign and the RNC have already filed at least 135 election-related lawsuits — with more expected.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.