GOP precinct committeeman charged with stealing ballots
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A Republican precinct committeeman was arrested in Madison County and charged with stealing ballots from a ballot card voting system during a public testing of the machines.
Committeeman Larry Savage turned himself in Tuesday morning at the Madison County Jail following a warrant for his arrest.
Savage, a former Republican primary candidate for 5th District congressman, was charged with theft, a Class A misdemeanor, and destroying or misplacing a ballot, a level 6 felony.
Indiana Lawyer could not immediately reach Savage. But he told Fox59 that at no time did he actually think the ballots were real.
“I didn’t mean to hurt anybody. And if I did, I’m sorry. I’m just trying to fight for our county,” Savage told the television station. “…The truth is going to come out, and I am an innocent man.”
According to Indiana State Police, staff at the Madison County Government Center were running the Voting System Technical Oversight Program, which tests election equipment in the state, when they discovered two ballots were missing from the same machine after an initial tabulation.
This test is done in front of representatives of political parties, candidates, the media, and the public. Savage was a member of the public who was attending the testing that day.
During the program, a pre-audited group of ballots are manually entered to test the systems’ effectiveness. After the testing process, the ballots are treated as if they were used on election day.
When it was discovered that two ballots were missing, police were able to narrow down their search for the ballots using surveillance footage, which showed Savage putting the ballots in his pocket, authorities said.
Savage was present for instructions about the test and therefore knew the ballots were not simply sample ballots, according to court records. He reportedly told another individual at the test, “they are absolutely totally real ballots except they say test on the back of them.”
Later, Savage commented on that same individual’s public Facebook live post, saying, “3 ballots short!!! lol,” according to court documents.
Text messages from Savage’s phone revealed he’d talked to the same individual about the stolen ballots, asking, “Sis they say anything about the ballots I took?” to which the individual said no.
A search of Savage’s residence revealed the missing ballots in his vehicle, authorities said.
On Oct. 17, a post made by Savage on Facebook shows his continued attempt to justify his actions in taking the ballots and/or instill doubt about the integrity of the election, according to court records.
Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said Savage’s arrest will hold him accountable for his alleged behavior and let the community know that his allegations that the election is fraudulent are not accurate.