Illegal ballot drop box removed outside Castaic church

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - In big letters, it does read “official,” but it’s far from it. The large box once located outside Freedom’s Way Baptist Church in Castaic was questionable, Los Angeles County Registrar officials said. The box has since been removed. 

“Our church has a voting booth in front of our complex. If you are voting early drop your ballot on by,” Pastor Jerry Cook said in a Facebook post. 

The post caught the eye of Valencia resident Shannon Kaehny who notified every local and state official she could. 

Registrar officials told FOX 11 it’s definitely not official, and that they had been trying to contact Pastor Cook about it. In addition, lawyers were drafting a cease and desist letter. 

The Pastor declined an on-camera interview but did say he was confident the box was official. 

In California, what is defined as “ballot harvesting” is legal. It allows people other than family members to collect and submit ballots. 

In April, President Donald Trump tweeted about ballot harvesting saying “Get rid of ballot harvesting, it is rampant with fraud. The USA must have voter I.D., the only way to get an honest count!”

By late Saturday evening, the box had disappeared from the front of the church.

If you want to find out where to locate official ballot boxes in LA County, visit locator.LAvote.net. 

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