Click event if element is checked and reload page - if-statement

Question

I would like a reload.location click-event only if a checkbox is checked. To me this seems to be basic conditions, but it's not working. Perhaps a different approach is needed? What I figured out, is when the checkbox is ticked, there is no html change in the <input type="checkbox"> element. Maybe this is the reason or is the combination of these conditions not possible? The else statement is a call back to the previous UI page. In below attempt, it's skipping the if-statement.
My attempt:
$(document.body).on("click", "#button", function(){
if (document.getElementById('checkbox').checked) {
location.reload(true);
} else {
return_to_page( this.dataset.return )
}
});
Above is working, however it's ignored due to the missing preventDefault:
$(document.body).on("click", "#button", function(e){
e.preventDefault();
//etc
});

Answer 1

checked is not a property of a jQuery object. You can use prop() to get the property instead:
$('#button').click( function() {
if ($('#checkbox').prop('checked')) {
location.reload(true);
}
// alternative #1 - use the 'checked' property of the Element in the jQuery object:
if ($('#checkbox')[0].checked) {
location.reload(true);
}
// alternative #2 - use the 'checked' property of the Element outside of jQuery:
if (document.getElementById('checkbox').checked) {
location.reload(true);
}
});
Here's a working example:
$('#button').click(function() {
if ($('#checkbox').prop('checked')) {
// location.reload(true);
console.log('Reload would happen now...');
} else {
console.log('Staying on the current page');
}
});
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<label>
<input type="checkbox" id="checkbox" />
Reload?
</label>
<button id="button">Go</button>

Answer 2

$('#button').click( function() {
if( $("input[id='checkbox']:checked") ) {
location.reload(true);
}
});
alternative
$('#button').click( function() {
if( $('#checkbox').is(':checked') ) {
location.reload(true);
}
});
All in a one plate methods:
$('#checkbox').is(":checked")
$('#checkbox').prop('checked')
$('#checkbox')[0].checked
$('#checkbox').get(0).checked