“If you believe in your candidate, there’s no reason to try to fudge with the election at all,” Kaehny told . “It’s an attack on democracy, it’s not ok, and it pissed me off.”

Another concerned resident, Matthew Judge, said the box was up for at least 4 days, possibly giving the pastor enough time to discard several ballots.

"I’m really worried that somebody put their ballot in there and that he saw it was for a certain candidate or saw whatever and just tore it up and threw it away,” Judge said.

Loyola Law Professor Jessica Levinson said the incident causes more mistrust in a time where they're trying to encourage people to trust the election.

"We’re telling people if you don’t trust the mail, then use an official ballot drop box,” Levinson said. “And now we have a church using what looks like a filing cabinet and saying it’s an official ballot drop box when it’s not. This does not do good things for people’s trust in our elections.”

According to The Guardian, mail-in voting is expected to increase this year due to concerns about the coronavirus. Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida, said mail-in votes will account for about 50% this year.

Freedom’s Way Baptist Church

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week