Former GOP congressional candidate arrested on allegations of ballot theft in Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS — A former Republican congressional candidate was charged with stealing ballots during a public test of voting machines in Indiana, state police said.
Larry Lee Savage Jr., a former Republican 5th Congressional District candidate, turned himself in to authorities Tuesday morning after he was charged, according to Indiana State Police. Savage, who was elected as a precinct committeeman at the May Republican primary, was accused of stealing ballots during a public voting machine test in Madison County earlier this month.
Madison County was testing four voting machines with 136 ballots on Oct. 3, when two of the ballots went missing over the course of the test. Surveillance footage showed Savage folding them and putting them into his pocket, according to a probable cause affidavit.
While conducting a search warrant, Indiana State Police found the missing ballots in Savage's car. One was a straight Republican ballot and the other was blank.
On Monday, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Savage on one charge of destroying or misplacing a ballot and one charge of theft. An initial appearance has not yet been scheduled and no defense attorney is listed for Savage, according to online records.
Griffin Reid, a spokesperson for the state GOP, condemned Savage and his actions.
"We unequivocally condemn any form of criminal election interference," Reid said. "We appreciate law enforcement’s efforts in pursuing justice and we will continue to monitor this situation as the process unfolds."
Voter fraud in the United States is rare, and courts have dismissed multiple lawsuits of alleged electoral fraud brought by former President Donald Trump and some of his Republican allies who accused Democrats of stealing the 2020 election. Trump faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in a Nov. 5 presidential election.
Critics fear Trump's false claims could be a precursor to similar accusations of election theft if he loses again. A Trump-aligned group previously told Paste BN that it is already planning to sue over this year's election results.
Ballot theft was 'sabotage of the public test'
After Savage placed the two ballots in his pocket, charging documents say he then approached Katherine Callahan, a former Republican Madison County auditor candidate, and whispered "f----- up count."
Savage told an investigator on the scene that he took the ballots because the woman overseeing the event said they weren't real ballots. A recording of the testing event showed that she told the attendees, "They are live ballots. They are live election ballots."
In an interview, a detective asked Savage why he put the ballots in his pocket if he believed he could freely take one. Savage "stated that he wasn't going to incriminate himself," according to a probable cause affidavit.
Savage told police he had no ill intentions and would have returned the ballots if he'd known he wasn't allowed to take them. Investigators casted doubt on this claim after an examination of his cellphone revealed that he texted Callahan about an hour after the test and asked, "Sis they say anything about the ballots I took?"
A representative for the voting machines' manufacturer told police the ballot theft was "sabotage of the public test and their voting equipment," according to court documents.
Savage ran in the Indiana 5th Congressional District Republican primary in May against Rep. Victoria Spartz and seven other candidates, winning just under 2% of the vote. On social media, Savage describes himself as a "MAGA candidate."
What is a public voting machine test?
Before voting machines can be used in Indiana elections, they're tested in front of political parties' representatives, candidates, media and the general public.
In the tests, election officials manually calculate results from pre-marked ballots. People attending the test are then invited to run those ballots through the voting machines to make sure the computerized systems counted accurately.
Test ballots are identical to official ballots but say "test" on the back of the paper. Test ballots could be put through a scanner at a polling place to cast an actual vote, and they're still considered official ballots under state law. They must be sealed and disposed of like official paper ballots.
Contributing: Brittany Carloni, Indianapolis Star; Aysha Bagchi, Paste BN; Reuters