Indiana precinct committeeman charged with ballot theft after voting machine test

Indiana State Police have arrested and charged a Madison County precinct committeeman with theft of election ballots after assessing an incident earlier in October, the Daily Journal reported. 

Larry Savage, a former Republican candidate for the US House of Representatives, has been charged with a level 6 felony of destroying or misplacing a ballot and class A misdemeanor of theft, according to online court records. Indiana State Police (IPS) said the incident occurred while the ballot card voting system was being tested for the public at the Madison County Government Center on Oct. 3. 

During a Voting System Technical Oversight Program (VSTOP) election equipment test, which police said affected four voting machines and 136 real candidate ballots that had been identified as being used for the test, two ballots were discovered missing upon completion of the initial count. 

The subsequent investigation discovered a video of Savage where he allegedly folded the ballots and secured them in his pocket after hearing instructions about the purpose of the ballot card voting system. Police obtained a search warrant for Savage’s residence, where they say they found the lost ballots inside of his car. 

Savage surrendered himself to the police at the Madison County Jail around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday after learning that a warrant for his arrest had been issued. "The Indiana State Police will continue to investigate these matters to ensure the integrity of the electoral process," the ISP said in a statement. 

The VSTOP was being conducted to test all the election equipment used in Indiana in anticipation of the Nov. 5 presidential and Congressional elections, police told NBC affiliate WTHR. Ballot boxes were recently found burning in two Oregon cities.