John Jefferson
Inset: Larry Savage Jr. (Madison County Jail). Background: Savage allegedly stealing election ballots during a test of county voting machines (Madison County Election Board).
A 51-year-old former Republican congressional candidate in Indiana was arrested this week for allegedly stealing ballots during a public test of the state’s ballot card voting system. Larry Savage Jr., an elected precinct committeeman, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with one count of felony destroying or misplacing ballots and one count of misdemeanor theft, authorities announced.
In May, Savage came in 6th place in the Republican primary for Indiana’s Fifth District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, garnering 1.9% of the vote. On his campaign’s Facebook page, Savage writes, “I am a MAGA Candidate for U.S. Congress 2024” and that one of his reasons for running is to bring back “fair, transparent elections.”
According to a news release from the Indiana State Police, the incident took place during a test of the Voting System Technical Oversight Program (VSTOP) at the Madison County Government Center on Oct. 3, 2024.
“The test requires manual entry of a pre-audit group of ballots marked to record a predetermined number of valid votes for each candidate and on each public question,” police explained in the release.
“After the testing process, the ballots used are treated as if they were used on election day. Before the ballot card voting system can be used in an election, the machines are required to be tested openly to representatives of political parties, candidates, media, and the public.”
The Oct. 3, test involved four voting machines and 136 “actual candidate ballots marked for testing,” investigators said. Following the test, officials said they discovered that two ballots were missing from the initial ballot tabulation. An investigation revealed several videos that allegedly showed Savage being instructed on the validity of the test ballots and then “folding and placing both ballots in his pocket.”
The test was livestreamed on the Madison County, Indiana, government website. Savage can allegedly be seen rolling up two of the ballots and stuffing them in his pocket about 12 minutes and 45 seconds into the footage.
A judge granted a search warrant for Savage’s home and the missing ballots were located inside his vehicle.
According to a report from Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN, shortly after putting the ballot in his pocket, Savage allegedly approached a woman in attendance and, unprompted, said, “f—ed up ballots.” That woman, who was reportedly streaming the test on Facebook Live, subsequently went over to the election officials to ask if any of the test ballots were missing.
In fact, Savage reportedly commented on the woman’s livestream, essentially admitting to taking the ballots.
“3 ballots short!!! lol,” he wrote, per screenshots of the feed obtained by WXIN.
“Dont take anything,” Savage added.
Savage appeared to post a third comment on the feed, but the text is cut off in the screenshot.
As he was leaving the building, the station reported that Savage was seen outside the building showing another man the ballots he had allegedly pocketed. The other man reportedly patted Savage on the back a few times in response.
Footage of the police confronting Savage at his home was posted online and appears to show him claiming to officers that he asked an election official if the ballots used for the test were “real ballots.”
“She said ‘No, they’re sample ballots.’ So, when she said that, I rolled one up, put it in my pocket,” Savage tells officers. “I didn’t know we couldn’t take the thing. They even say ‘sample’ on them.”
Savage tells the officers that he was 10 minutes late to the meeting and that he may have missed any direct warning against taking ballots. WXIN reported that after being told that footage from the event showed that Savage never asked permission to take the ballots, he admitted he did not, but maintained that he believed he was allowed.
“If you got to Payless, or go wherever, it says sample and you usually can take a sample,” Savage says. “So that is the way I took it. I thought they were fake f—ing ballots.”
After an officer reads him the warrant, Savage appears to say, “They’re coming after us patriots. They don’t want us to be Americans anymore.” A short while later he reportedly told police “This is all political bulls—.”
Court documents reportedly show that when police searched his phone they found text messages clearly showing that Savage was fully aware that it was a crime to take the ballots from the facility.
Following his arrest, Savage was released on $500 bond. His first court date has not yet been scheduled.
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