Photo: Instagram

'Sexyback' singer Justin Timberlake broke the law by uploading a picture of himself voting in the US elections this week, the Tennessee State Police Department revealed in a statement.

It led to a nervous 24 hours for the star, who flew back especially from Los Angeles to his home state to cast an early vote in Memphis.

After spotting an Instagram picture uploaded from the polling booth, which has been illegal in Tennessee since 2015, the state district attorney's office released a statement saying they had "been made aware of a possible violation of state election law".

Initially the department also said this matter was under review, meaning there was a chance Timberlake could be prosecuted for the image. However, district attorney Amy Weirich came to his rescue a day later by releasing a statement exonerating the singer.

"I am out of town at a conference. No one in our office is currently investigating this matter nor will we be using our limited resources to do so," the statement read.

Timberlake was trying to use his popularity on Instagram, where he has 37.2 million followers, to encourage young people to get out and vote in the US presidential election, where voting closes on 8 November.

He captioned the image: "No excuses, my good people! There could be early voting in your town too. If not, November 8th! Choose to have a voice! If you don't, then we can't HEAR YOU! Get out and VOTE!"

Thankfully for the star, he was able to get his excuses in early and avoid prosecution this time. Hopefully, his high profile case will mean others avoid making the same mistake when they go to cast their vote on the day.