As national political campaigns direct more funding toward Pennsylvania for advertising in the battleground Commonwealth, both parties are also using some of the money to hire lawyers to combat voter fraud.

The majority of funding for political advertising nationally is concentrated in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Republicans and Democrats agree the Pennsylvania race will be close, and because of that, lawyers will represent both parties at closely contested precincts on Election Day.

"We are a battleground state, and the election is apparently coming down to three states now, and I think that for both campaigns to win, and certainly for Pa., it means getting all your voters out on Election Day," Don Morabito, Pennsylvania Democratic executive director said. "We will be doing our best to make sure that all of John Kerry's voters get to the polls on Election Day."

Andy Banducci, Penn State College Republicans chairman, said the increase in Pennsylvania political funding is a good idea because the state's voters are so evenly divided.

"Pennsylvania is a great bang for your buck," Banducci said.

Tiffany Iriana, Students for Bush in Pennsylvania executive director, said because the Pennsylvania race will be so close, spending more money here is a sound campaign strategy.

"As we get closer to Election Day, the allocation of resources is being reconsidered," she said. "The campaign has decided that the president is doing so well in Pennsylvania that more efforts should be put into the state to push us over the top."

Iriana said some of the new money directed toward Pennsylvania is in anticipation of possible legal issues.

"Many, many voters on the rolls are dead or are no longer living in Pennsylvania," she said. "If all the cemeteries in Philadelphia don't turn out to vote, the president will carry Pennsylvania."

Republicans and Democrats alike are concerned about voter fraud and are taking steps to monitor precincts around the state.

Megan Green, Penn State College Democrats president, said because of problems in Florida in 2000, it is hard to trust the voting process.

Andy Beck, the Bush campaign's communications director, said state Republicans are concerned with voter fraud in Philadelphia.

Beck added that the Republicans filed 63 petitions with the Philadelphia City Commissioners office to change some polling sites.

"We want to provide equal voter access for all voters," he said. "Some of these places were in bars without easy access, in non-handicapped accessible buildings and even in the offices of Democratic leaders."

Morabito said the Democrats will have more than 2,000 lawyers throughout the commonwealth and at every contested precinct.

"...We want to make sure that every voter has an equal chance to vote for the candidate that they want to choose," Beck said.