diff --git a/AdvancedHTMLParser/Parser.py b/AdvancedHTMLParser/Parser.py
index de69381..176a140 100755
--- a/AdvancedHTMLParser/Parser.py
+++ b/AdvancedHTMLParser/Parser.py
@@ -1269,7 +1269,7 @@ def getElementById(self, _id, root='root', useIndex=True):
         '''
         (root, isFromRoot) = self._handleRootArg(root)
 
-        if self.useIndex is True and self.indexIDs is True:
+        if useIndex is True and self.indexIDs is True:
 
             element = self._idMap.get(_id, None)