Taking A Selfie While Voting In Illinois: Legal Or Not?

After spending way too much time and effort digging for information, I found that the state of Illinois has never filed charges against a resident for snapping a selfie of themselves and their newly filled out ballot on Election Day.

So, that must answer the question, right?

If authorities in Illinois haven't ever seen fit to charge someone for taking and sharing a "ballot selfie," it must mean that taking a selfie in the voting booth is perfectly fine, acceptable, and totally legal behavior, right?

Right?

Well, actually that's not quite right. Not the part about people taking ballot selfies, but rather the part about whether doing so is "totally legal."

First Off, Let's Get Into Why Taking A Selfie At The Ballot Box Would Even Be Something That Needs To Have A Law About It, One Way Or Another

What's the problem with taking a ballot selfie, anyway? It's just a photo that shows you doing your civic duty as an Illinoisan and an American, right? What reason could there be to object to that?

The reason is something called "cash for votes."

Cash for votes is when someone is offered something, usually cash money, to cast a vote for a certain candidate or candidates. The way the voter gets the money is to snap a shot of themselves and their vote to provide evidence to the person who offered the money.

Knowing that, you can see why there would be an effort to ban ballot selfies everywhere...except it's not banned everywhere.

Some States Are Cool With Ballot Selfies, And Other States Are Not

According to the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL), the following states permit the taking of ballot selfies in most forms:

• Alabama
• California
• Colorado
• Hawaii
• Nebraska
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Utah

Did you notice that one particular state is not on the "we're okay with ballot selfies" list? It's this one:

Taking A Ballot Selfie Could Get You Into Real Trouble Here In Illinois, Even If The State Has Never Gone After Someone Who Did It

Here's the rule in Illinois when it comes to taking selfies at your voting place, according to Illinois Policy:

Snapping a photo of your filled-in ballot and posting it on Facebook or Instagram (or X) is technically a Class 4 felony in Illinois, which comes with a prison sentence of one to three years and a maximum fine of $25,000. According to the Illinois Election Code, anyone who “knowingly” casts his or her ballot in a way that “can be observed by another person” is breaking the law.

So, there it is. Taking an Election Day ballot selfie in Illinois could get you into a jam, but no one (that I could find) has been charged for doing it before.