Madison County committeeman charged with stealing vote machine test ballots

A Madison County precinct committeeman has been charged with election tampering.  As IPR’s Thomas Ouellette reports, that includes a felony charge of “destroying or misplacing a ballot.”

Larry L. Savage, Jr. (Mugshot from Madison County Jail)

According to an Indiana State Police affidavit, Republican Larry Savage took home two sample ballots after attending the public test of Madison County’s voting machines in early October.  State law says those ballots must all be accounted for and sealed.

Read the affidavit: Larry Savage Probable Cause Affidavit

In an interview before being charged, Savage said he had no idea that he couldn’t take the sample ballots home.

“If I did something wrong, I apologize. I certainly didn’t go in there with the intent to do anything wrong,” Savage said. “And intent to me is what you need.”

Rodney Cummings is the Madison County prosecutor.   He said Savage was informed multiple times during the test that those ballots needed to be counted.  And he points to a state police investigation that found social media posts Savage made about the ballots.

“If you know, he had taken the ballots and that was all he did…We’re probably not taking this nearly as seriously,” said Cummings. “But when he immediately goes online and tries to wreak havoc in our community and cause people to doubt the integrity of our election process, that is a serious public problem.”

An arrest warrant was issued Monday and Savage turned himself into Madison County police on Tuesday.  In addition to one level six felony of “destroying or misplacing a ballot,” he is also charged with misdemeanor theft.

Savage has run in several recent elections, most recently losing in this year’s Republican primary for the US House Fifth District Representative.

Savage says that he intends to fight the charges in court.

“I know I’m not guilty. I’m an innocent man and I’ve never been in trouble one day in my life,” he said.

Thomas Ouellette is our reporter and producer.  Contact him at thomas.ouellette@bsu.edu