Accessibility Compliant

The 2024 edition of the Illinois Poll Watcher's Guide as been written to be accessibility compliant.

Is it “Poll Watcher” or “Pollwatcher”?

Both are acceptable and can be used interchangeably.

This guide will use “poll watcher” except when quoting another source which uses the alternative spelling.

Voting Machines

In Illinois, optical scan paper ballot tabulator systems are used in the polling places to tabulate votes.

This guide will refrain from using the term “voting machine” to describe these tabulation systems.

Throughout this guide the electronic precinct tabulation optical scan technology will be referred to as “ballot box/tabulators” or just “tabulators”.

Illinois does use electronic voting machines. Most often to assist disabled voters.

How'd You Say That?

When a poll watcher stands up to challenge an infraction, the poll watcher sometimes needs to quote the statute.

Here is a simple guide to help name the statute:

• All Illinois statues that concern poll watchers are Code 5 of the 10 ILCS, or "Ten Illinois Compiled Statutes".
• Next, after the virgule or slash, is the Article number.
• Next, after the dash, is the section.
• Finally, within parentheses (with alternating letters and numbers), are the subsections.

So, 10 ILCS 5/24B-9.1(b)(5) would read, "Code 5, Article Twenty-four B, Section Nine-dot-One, Subsection B 5".

Also remember that the statutes in this Guide's Index have been edited for readability. The wording is accurate, but paragraphs have been broken up, and headers added to make the statute easier to understand.

If you need a paragraph number, go to the original (the link is listed in the top right-hand corner of the Article page) to accurately count the paragraphs.

Gender Neutral Pronouns

We have tried to use gender neutral pronouns throughout this guide, preferring the plural pronoun over the gender specific pronoun.

• they
• them
• themself
• themselves

Specialized Formatting

What the Poll Watcher Is Looking For.

The above heading is used throughout the guide to draw the poll watcher's attention to things to look for.

Rule of Thumb.

These tips are not in the statutes, but are here to help the poll watcher stay out of trouble.