HARRISBURG, Pa. – More than 4,000 vote-by-mail applications were challenged in 14 Pennsylvania counties, leaving it up to election officials to decide voters’ eligibility during hearings that would last much longer. Election Day.

State election officials say the “massive challenges” are focused on two distinct groups: people who may have forwarded their mail without changing their voter registration and non-military U.S. voters living abroad. Overseas voters are eligible to vote for presidential and congressional seats only under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.

The state had a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday for anyone to object to mail ballot applications; Ballot ballots from voters whose applications have been challenged must be delayed until county board of elections officials hold a hearing to adjudicate the claims. These hearings must be held no later than Friday, three days after Election Day.

Pennsylvania is a critical state that could be decisive in the contest between Democratic candidates. Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald TrumpIt’s a very close race on the eve of Election Day. If the margin is narrow, those 4,300 mail-in ballots could be enough to determine who wins the state and its 19 delegate votes.

Efforts follow orders from a federal judge decision last week Six Republican members of Congress tossed out a lawsuit asking Pennsylvania election officials to institute new checks verifying the eligibility and identity of military and overseas voters.

The first county board of elections hearing, held Friday in Philadelphia’s Chester County suburb, resulted in the rejection of all objections to mail-in ballot applications; Claims that people have moved and need to change their voting location.

“The scary part was that they sent out this letter with a voter registration cancellation form and claimed they had recruited 2,300 voters to cancel their voter registration,” Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell, a Democrat, said Monday.

These challenges cost $10 per voter, and it’s unclear exactly who is presenting each one. In Chester County, those petitions were filed by Trump supporter Diane Houser, who said they were nonpartisan and from a grassroots network.

Lycoming County will hold a hearing Friday on 72 objections it received from attorney Karen DiSalvo of Fair Elections PA, a conservative group that has fueled right-wing attacks on voting procedures. DiSalvo said he overcame his challenges as an individual, not as a member of any organization.

“The objections seen point to the need for county election officials to properly process the voter registration applications they already have for these candidates. Voters do not need to do anything; everyone received their ballot. To resolve the eligibility issues noted in the challenges, DiSalvo said in an email, county officials should should properly register applicants, he wrote.

In York County, all objections (354) were rejected by the election board Monday, but chief clerk Greg Monskie said the board agreed to keep those ballots separate for a period of time during which objections could be filed.

The Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections, said that by Saturday, overseas voters in 10 counties had experienced nearly 3,700 difficulties mailing ballot applications. There were also pending challenges to 363 voters in four counties based on purported address changes; There were also 212 voters in Chester County who were rejected or withdrawn in this category.

Eric Roe, Chester’s Republican commissioner, said those in dire straits include active-duty military members, college students and people leaving Pennsylvania to seek medical care.

“It is concerning to me that someone would take such an approach to disenfranchise legitimate voters in Pennsylvania,” Roe said. “And I can’t think of anything less American than that.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania says filling out a change of address form does not mean the voter is leaving the state permanently, and these forms can also be used to forward mail.

Tim Germani, director of voter and election services in Lawrence, said there are 52 challenges under review in Lawrence County, and most, but not all, appear to be related to requests for foreign mail-in ballots. He said the board of elections may have to hold a hearing by Friday.

In Philadelphia’s Bucks County suburb, where nearly 1,300 filings were filed, mostly by Republican state Sen. Jarrett Coleman, officials were trying to notify voters Monday about the hearing scheduled for early Thursday. Bucks government spokesman Jim O’Malley said those votes will be segregated during vote counting by then.

“We’re doing our best to notify those voters today, and that notification will include information on how to contact the Board of Elections,” O’Malley said in a phone interview Monday.

A message seeking comment was left for Coleman.