Election 2024: Illinois voters OK 3 nonbinding ballot questions

Illinois voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved three advisory questions put on the ballot by Democrats, including one asking whether the highest earners should be taxed to fund property tax relief, according to unofficial results from The Associated Press.

Former Gov. Pat Quinn, chair of the committee that backs a so-called millionaires’ tax, in a statement Tuesday said the provisions proposed in the referendum question would provide “the largest property tax relief measure in state history.”

But the tax question, which would affect residents earning more than $1 million a year, like, the two other referenda was nonbinding and will have no immediate effect.

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Still, they give some directive to the Democratic supermajority in the General Assembly, which held strong Tuesday in the face of Republican attempts to chip away at a few key seats.

“It gives us a lot of momentum to work with legislators,” Quinn said Wednesday.

About 60% of voters said yes to the tax question with 90% of the estimated vote total counted, according to unofficial results from the AP.

The other questions put on the ballot by Democratic state legislators passed by even greater margins. One asked if in vitro fertilization and other “medically appropriate assisted reproductive treatments” should be covered by insurance plans that cover other pregnancy benefits; the other if Illinois political candidates should be subject to civil penalties if they interfere “with an election worker’s official duties.”

The downballot referenda were an afterthought for many voters in a high-stakes election, but appeared to appeal to a wide range of voters. At the Loop polling Supersite on Monday, several voters said they weren’t aware that the questions would be on their ballots before it was time to fill them out.

Rich Loman, a 38-year-old who has previously cast presidential ballots for former President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, on Monday voted in favor of all three of the nonbinding ballot questions while also punching in for former President Donald Trump at the top of the ticket.

“Both sides should be saying things that you agree with and disagree with,” Loman said after voting.

The result of the tax question was a turnaround from 2020, when Gov. JB Pritzker and his allies suffered the biggest defeat of his tenure on a referendum to enact a graduated income tax.

This year’s question had a few advantages over that doomed referenda, proponents said in the lead-up to the election. For one, it was nonbinding. For another, it was easier to understand and spelled out exactly who would be affected by the change and how they would be taxed. Under the phrasing of the question, those earning more than $1 million a year would face an additional 3% income tax.

The Illinois Department of Revenue in a primary calculation found that adding a 3% income tax surcharge to net income over $1 million statewide could yield $4.5 billion in tax revenue.

To actually become law,  the issue would have to both go before the General Assembly and be passed by a supermajority of lawmakers, and then be put on the ballot as a binding question. Only if that question passes would the amendment be added to the constitution. Specifics for the policy would have to be worked out along the way.

In supporting the referenda, voters gave support to the hand-picked Democratic issues, potentially paving the way for changes in policy.  A 2014 ballot question on minimum wage, for example, preceded 2019 legislation that ramped up the rate and will bring it to $15 an hour at the start of next year.

But ballot questions don’t always bring results: A similar nonbinding “millionaire tax” question passed in 2014, when Quinn was governor, but lawmakers never followed up with the steps necessary to make it law.

Republicans have accused Democrats of using the questions simply to drive voter turnout and preempt the possibility of any other statewide questions making it on the ballot, since only three such questions are allowed to appear.

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With 90% of the estimated vote total in, 72% of voters had approved the IVF ballot question, which follows an outcry over attempts by some conservatives to curb the treatment after the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.

Dr. Jennifer Hirshfeld-Cytron, vice president and IVF medical director at Fertility Centers of Illinois, after the presidential race was called for Trump early Wednesday said she felt “lucky to practice in Illinois,” where IVF is already relatively protected.

“And I think it just demonstrates that if this is a priority for individuals, we need to go state by state to make sure these protections are in place,” she said.

Despite existing protections in Illinois, Hirshfeld-Cytron said she supported the statewide referendum because some people still find themselves uninsured or underinsured for fertility treatments, she said last month.

Illinois Right to Life, an anti-abortion organization, opposed the referendum because it opposes the IVF process. Planned Parenthood Illinois Action, for its part, knocked on thousands of doors this cycle in support of IVF coverage, director of strategy Claire McNorton said in October.

The question on protecting election workers had approval from 89% of voters with 89% of the estimated vote total counted, according to AP.

It was the widest margin of any of the three questions, according to those preliminary results, as concerns about election worker safety, particularly among Democrats, have mounted since Trump’s false claims that he won the election four years ago. Republicans, too, have fretted about election security amid those claims.

Scott Erickson, Republican county clerk in Knox County and president of the Illinois Association of County Clerks and Recorders, said he supported the concept behind the ballot question but with some hesitation, because he feels election workers already have some protections. He also didn’t want to see the issue become more partisan.