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Actual Vote in Illinois

Watcher credential needed to access poll tapes on election night

Information current as of June 2026

This page explains how to use the Actual Vote app in Illinois for the next election. New to Actual Vote? Start here to learn what it is and why it matters.

Yes by statute — with a credentialed twist. Illinois law requires a totals report "posted in a conspicuous place inside the polling place" when a pollwatcher is present, plus a personal copy for every watcher who asks and protected time to transcribe (10 ILCS 5/24B-10.1). The state's own judge manual adds: "Pollwatchers may find it useful to take a photo of the tape." But the posting is inside, where only credentialed people remain after close — so the Illinois play is getting watcher credentials (citizens' organizations can register with each election authority 40+ days out). Chicago tapes a copy to the wall and reserves at least four tapes for watchers, but Chicago and Cook County ban photography inside — there, take your free copy home and record it.

Your participation is powerful: you join a nationwide team whose recordings get compared, tape-by-tape, against the officially reported results — an independent check on vote reporting, which is vulnerable to error and fraud. We haven’t published an Actual Vote analysis from Illinois yet, but see what a team achieved in the 2024 North Carolina primary. The process is legal and next-to-impossible to abuse for partisan gain: everything on a poll tape is already public.

Get the app How Actual Vote works See an example analysis

This information was compiled using AI-assisted internet research along with some calls to election offices and word-of-mouth tips. It reflects America Counts’s best knowledge of how to access poll tapes in Illinois as of June 2026, but it cannot be guaranteed 100% accurate. The best way to be sure about accessing poll tapes in your area is to call your local elections office and ask — see below for ready-to-use scripts.

If your experience or knowledge of poll-tape procedure in Illinois is different from what we show here, please contact us and let us know — we update these pages as we learn more.

Your ways to participate in Illinois

In order of power — how early in the chain of custody the evidence is, how many tapes one person can capture, and how easy it is.

  1. 1

    Get a watcher credential and record from insideMost powerful

    In Illinois the realistic election-night route runs through a watcher/observer credential arranged in advance.

    See more details about Actual Vote for poll watchers and observers.

  2. 2

    Become a poll worker or observer

    Working the polls or serving as an appointed observer puts you right at the source — the earliest point in the chain of custody, and the clearest view of the count and the tape.

    See more details about Actual Vote for poll workers or observers.

    Sign up to be a poll worker →

  3. 3

    Visit or book an appointment at your county elections office

    Election offices can often provide many precincts’ tapes at once — a great way to cover a whole county on your own schedule.

    Email/phone script — book an appointment at your Illinois county elections office
    To: [your county] County elections office
    Re: Appointment to view and record precinct results tapes

    Hello, and thank you for your work. My name is [name]. My friends and I use Actual Vote, an app from America Counts, a non-partisan election transparency organization — we video-record poll tapes and compare them to the official results as an independent double-check.

    We’d like to request an appointment to view and video-record the certified precinct results tapes (summary statements) from the [date] election — Election Day, absentee/by-mail, and early voting — for [all precincts / the following precincts: ____]. [Preferred date and window] would work, but we’re flexible and happy to follow any rules your office sets.

    Everything on these tapes is public records under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140/3), and already public, so all we’d need is the tapes and a place to work. Thank you for considering it. — [name], [contact]

    Offices are busiest right before certification — offering a flexible window (and to start with a few precincts) makes a yes easier. See the full worked example for more.

    See a detailed example of how to do this.

  4. 4

    File a public-records request for poll-tape images

    Poll tapes are public records under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. You can request digital copies by precinct and voting method — available in every state, though it captures the tapes later in the chain of custody.

    Public-records request email — Illinois precinct results tapes
    To: [your county] Election Authority (County Clerk / Board of Election Commissioners)
    Re: Public records request — [election, e.g. November 5, 2024 General Election] precinct results tapes, [your county]

    Dear [County] Election Authority,

    Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140/3, I'm requesting copies of public election records — specifically the precinct results tapes (also called "poll tapes") and totals reports printed by the county's ballot tabulators, meeting the following criteria:

    • From Illinois's [election, e.g. November 5, 2024 General Election]
    • From all precincts in [your county]
    • For each voting method that produced a tabulator tape — Election Day (in-person precinct), Vote-by-Mail, and Early Voting. I understand mail and early-voting ballots are typically counted centrally rather than at individual precincts, so for those methods I'm after the central tabulator tapes or summary statements
    • The tapes/reports showing candidate-by-candidate vote totals — I don't need the zero or configuration tapes, though including them is fine
    • If for any combination above no ballots were cast (so no tape was printed), simply omit it

    Digital scans (emailed or via a download link, in any common format such as .pdf or .jpg) would be ideal; physical copies for pickup or mail are also fine. These are public records — Illinois law requires a totals report to be posted inside the polling place and a personal copy given to any credentialed pollwatcher who asks (10 ILCS 5/24B-10.1) — and the totals they show are already in the official published results. They'll be used for legitimate, non-partisan vote-reporting auditing with Actual Vote, an app from America Counts, a non-partisan election transparency organization — you can see exactly how it works, and why it's non-partisan, at Start Here.

    If you must redact anything beyond precinct name, voting method, and results totals, please go ahead. If you deny any part of this request, please cite the specific exemption and let me know the appeal options under the law. Please also tell me of any fee in advance — I request a fee waiver, as this analysis is in the public interest, contributes to election transparency, and is not for any commercial purpose.

    Because our analysis is most useful before results are certified, I'd be grateful for the data within about a week if possible; if you expect a delay, just let me know when to expect it.

    Thank you for considering this request. — [name], [email/phone]

    See a detailed example of how to do this.

  5. 5

    Live near a state line? Consider crossing it.If you’re near a border

    Illinois makes election-night recording hard — but a neighbor posts a results tape right on the outside of the polling place: Kentucky. If you live near the border, a short drive across it can be the highest-value Actual Vote move of the night. Honest caveat: a tape you record there verifies that state’s precinct, not your own — it complements your in-state options, it doesn’t replace them.

    See a detailed example of how to make a plan to visit polling places on election night based in Broward County, Florida.

Quick reference: tape access by role in Illinois

A companion to the options above. Whatever your role when the polls close — poll worker, appointed watcher, or member of the public — here’s who can see and record the results tape in Illinois, and how the state compares nationally.

Credentialed watchers only

Posted inside with a watcher present; each watcher gets a free copy.

Recording: Record your copy (Chicago/Cook ban photos inside).
Key authority: 10 ILCS 5/24B-10.1

See how every state compares →

Past Actual Vote poll tape recordings in Illinois

Here are some Actual Vote poll tape videos from previous elections by users in Illinois. You can make your own in the next election!

America Counts compares the vote totals on each poll tape video to the official results to double-check the accuracy of the vote reporting. We did the comparison analysis with these and other videos from these elections and found all matches. We didn't publish a report at the time, but look for one soon.

Recordings live in the public Actual Vote Video Archive.

How we know this — and how you can check it

This reflects America Counts’s June 2026 primary-source review of Illinois’s election statutes and Secretary of State guidance. We’re finalizing the detailed, fully-cited "how we know this" write-up for Illinois. In the meantime, the surest way to confirm what applies at your polling place or elections office is to call them directly. Found something different? Help us verify it.

Find your county's election website

County sites carry polling locations and local contact information. Search "[your county], Illinois elections" if a link 404s.

Ready to help?

Join the nationwide team independently double-checking how votes are reported — starting in Illinois.

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