Article 29
Prohibitions and Penalties
10 ILCS 5/29-1 — Vote Buying
Any person who knowingly gives, lends or promises to give or lend any money or other valuable consideration to any other person to influence such other person to vote or to register to vote or to influence such other person to vote for or against any candidate or public question to be voted upon at any election shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
10 ILCS 5/29-2 — Promise for Vote
Any person who, in order to influence any other person to vote or register to vote or to vote for or against any candidate or public question to be voted upon at any election, knowingly promises to
- (a) cause or support the employment or appointment of any other person to any public office or public position or
- (b) perform or refrain from performing any official act,
shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
10 ILCS 5/29-3 — Vote Selling
Any person who votes for or against any candidate or public question in consideration of any gift or loan of money or for any other valuable consideration, or for any promise to cause or support the employment or appointment of any person to any public office or public position, shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
10 ILCS 5/29-4 — Preventing From Voting
Any person who, by force, intimidation, threat, deception or forgery, knowingly prevents any other person from
- (a) registering to vote, or
- (b) lawfully voting, supporting or opposing the nomination or election of any person for public office or any public question voted upon at any election,
shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
10 ILCS 5/29-5 — Voting More Than Once
Any person who, having voted once, knowingly during any election where the ballot or machine lists any of the same candidates and issues listed on the ballot or machine previously used for voting by that person,
- (a) files an application to vote in the same or another polling place, or
- (b) accepts a ballot or enters a voting machine (except to legally give assistance pursuant to the provisions of this Code), shall be guilty of a Class 3 felony;
however, if a person has delivered a ballot or ballots to an election authority as a vote by mail voter and due to a change of circumstances is able to and does vote in the precinct of his residence on election day, shall not be deemed to be in violation of this Code./p>
10 ILCS 5/29-6 — Mutilation of Election Materials
Any person who knowingly destroys, mutilates, defaces, falsifies, forges, conceals or removes any record, register of voters, affidavit, return or statement of votes, certificate, tally sheet, ballot, or any other document or computer program which
- (a) is used or to be preserved for use in connection with registration, or
- (b) is used or to be preserved for use in connection with any election pursuant to this Code, except as permitted by provisions of this Code,
shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony and shall also be ineligible for public employment for a period of 5 years immediately following the completion of his or her sentence.
10 ILCS 5/29-7 — Tampering With Voting Machines
Any person who tampers with any machine or device used in connection with voting or the counting of votes, or who knowingly allows another to tamper with such a machine or device, so as
- (a) to interfere with the proper operation of such machine or device,
- (b) to alter the results recorded on such machine or device or intended to be recorded thereon, or
- (c) to place votes on a machine which are not legally cast,
shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
10 ILCS 5/29-8 — Stuffing the Ballot Box
Any person who, prior to, during, or after the counting of ballots or prior to, during, or after the final certification of the vote of any election, knowingly
- (a) places anything other than a ballot in a ballot box,
- (b) adds or mixes a forged ballot with other ballots, or
- (c) adds or mixes a forged application to vote with other applications to vote,
shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
10 ILCS 5/29-9 — Unlawful Observation of Voting
Except as permitted by this Code, any person who knowingly marks his ballot or casts his vote on a voting machine or voting device so that it can be observed by another person, and any person who knowingly observes another person lawfully marking a ballot or lawfully casting his vote on a voting machine or voting device, shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
10 ILCS 5/29-10 — Perjury
- (a) Any person who makes a false statement, material to the issue or point in question, which he does not believe to be true, in any affidavit, certificate or sworn oral declaration required by any provision of this Code shall be guilty of a Class 3 felony.
- (b) Any person who is convicted of violating this Section shall be ineligible for public employment for a period of 5 years immediately following the completion of his sentence.
For the purpose of this subsection, "public employment" shall mean any elected or appointed office created by the Constitution or laws of this State, or any ordinance of a unit of local government. "Public employment" shall also include any position as an employee of the State of Illinois, or a unit of local government or school district.
10 ILCS 5/29-11 — Failure to Comply with Order of Election Authority
Any person who knowingly fails or refuses to comply with any lawful order of an election authority issued by the election authority in the performance of the duties of the election authority, shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
10 ILCS 5/29-12 — Disregard of Election Code
Except with respect to Article 9 of this Code, any person who knowingly
- (a) does any act prohibited by or declared unlawful by, or
- (b) fails to do any act required by, this Code
shall, unless a different punishment is prescribed by this Code, be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
10 ILCS 5/29-13 — Solicitation & Conspiracy
Each violation of this Code shall be an offense within the meaning of Section 2-12 of the Illinois Criminal Code of 2012, so that the inchoate offenses of solicitation, conspiracy and attempt, and the punishment therefor, as provided in such Criminal Code shall apply to solicitation, conspiracy and attempt to violate the provisions of this Code.
10 ILCS 5/29-14 (Repealed)
10 ILCS 5/29-15 — Conviction Deemed Infamous
Any person convicted of an infamous crime as such term is defined in Section 124-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963, as amended, shall thereafter be prohibited from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit, unless such person is again restored to such rights by the terms of a pardon for the offense, has received a restoration of rights by the Governor, or otherwise according to law. Any time after a judgment of conviction is rendered, a person convicted of an infamous crime may petition the Governor for a restoration of rights.
The changes made to this Section by this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly are declarative of existing law.
10 ILCS 5/29-16 — Contempt & Removal from Office
Such punishment for contempt and removal from office shall not bar prosecution and punishment for any criminal offense committed.
10 ILCS 5/29-17 — Liability for Deprivation of Constitutional Rights
Any person who subjects, or causes to be subjected, a citizen of the State of Illinois or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States or of the State of Illinois, relating to registration to vote, the conduct of elections, voting, or the nomination or election of candidates for public or political party office, shall be liable to the party injured or any person affected, in any action or proceeding for redress.
10 ILCS 5/29-18 — Liability for Conspiracy to Prevent Vote
If 2 or more persons conspire to prevent by force, intimidation, threat, deception, forgery or bribery any person from registering to vote, or preventing any person lawfully entitled to vote from voting, or preventing any person from supporting or opposing, in a legal manner, the nomination or election of any person for public or political party office, or a proposition voted upon at any election, or to injure any person or such person's property on account of such vote, support or advocacy, and if one or more persons so conspiring do, attempt or cause to be done, any act in furtherance of the object of such conspiracy, whereby another is injured in his person or property or deprived of having or exercising any right, privilege or immunity secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States or the State of Illinois relating to the conduct of elections, voting, or the nomination or election of candidates for public or political party office, all persons engaged in such conspiracy shall be liable to the party injured or any person affected, in any action or proceeding for redress.
10 ILCS 5/29-19 — Liability for Giving False Information
Whoever knowingly or willfully gives false information as to his name, address, or period of residence in the voting district for the purpose of establishing his eligibility to register to vote, or conspires with another individual for the purpose of encouraging his false registration to vote or illegal voting, or pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be liable to the party injured or any other person affected, in an action or proceeding for redress.
10 ILCS 5/29-20 — Vote by Mail Ballots - Violations
A person is guilty of a Class 3 felony who knowingly:
- (1) Solicits another person, knowing that the person is not legally qualified to vote as a vote by mail voter, to apply for a vote by mail ballot;
- (2) Solicits another person, knowing that the person is not legally qualified to vote as a vote by mail voter, to cast a ballot as a vote by mail voter;
- (3) Intimidates or unduly influences another person to cast a vote by mail ballot in a manner inconsistent with the voter's intent; or
- (4) Marks or tampers with a vote by mail ballot of another person or takes a vote by mail ballot of another person in violation of Section 19-6. this link opens in a new browser tab. so that an opportunity for fraudulent marking or tampering is created.
How To Use This Guide.
This is a guide to the Illinois Compiled Statutes Election Code (ILCS) as it regards to poll watchers. Not all election code statutes are included.
This guide is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to Illinois election law; it includes only those sections which are of interest to poll watchers.
The election code is copied verbatim from the ILCS website. There are no changes to the wording of the statutes, but formatting decisions were made which include:
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- Changes may include adding paragraphs in order to make the text more readable. When citing this code, please refer to the original for the correct paragraph number.
- Section headings were added.
- Except for the addition of section headings, no other wording was changed. The content remains the same.
Each page will include when the page was last updated & a link to the original ILCS website for that statute.
This guide will be maintained through the 2024 election cycle. Maintenance of this guide will end on Election Day, November 5, 2024.
Every effort has been made to keep the information up to date.