This election season, most eyes are on the biggest race of them all: the presidential race. As important as it is to make your pick between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, Illinois residents are also being asked to weigh in on matters that don’t involve a choice between candidates.
Come Election Day, your ballot will ask you to vote on three statewide ballot measures, the maximum number allowed under state law. All three are considered advisory questions, meaning Illinois officials will not be bound by the results; instead, the questions are intended to give the state a sense of how voters feel about each subject.
Sometimes, ballot measures can be worded in ways that are confusing or may cause people to vote the opposite way that they intend to. Luckily, all three in Illinois this year are worded affirmatively, so a “yes” vote means you support the initiative in question while a “no” vote means you oppose it.
Riverside tax referendum
If you live in Riverside, you’ll have one village-wide referendum on your ballot in addition to the state measures.
Riverside voters will be asked if the village should be allowed to increase its tax levy for 2024 by 9.3% compared to the previous year’s. Under the Property Tax Extension Law Limit, Illinois non-home rule municipalities like Riverside can only increase their tax levies each year at a rate that matches the previous year’s Consumer Price Index inflation rate, but if that rate goes above 5%, tax levy increases are capped there. A tax levy can only be increased by more than 5% with the approval of voters.
As village officials have said, the increased tax levy, should it pass, would go into effect at the same time as Riverside pays off outstanding debt, meaning residents will not see their property taxes go up.
In 2004 and again in 2014, village voters approved the issuance of 10-year bonds to fund Riverside’s street repairs, but since then, village staff have realized Riverside spends about half a million dollars on fees and interest for each set of bonds over the 10 years it takes to pay them back. This new method of funding street repairs will allow the village to put that money directly into improving its roads instead.
If voters approve the referendum, the cumulative nature of property tax levies means the village will be able to earmark about $256,000 each year for street and bridge repairs with no real effect on residents’ taxes. But if it fails, the village will have to go back to the drawing board to find a way to fund street repairs, which could delay capital projects or services planned for next year and beyond.
If you’d like to learn more about the tax levy referendum, visit Riverside’s website at https://riverside.il.us/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=3877 to read up on the answers to some frequently asked questions.
Assisted reproductive health care
The first question is on the topic of assisted reproductive health care. Voters will be asked whether “medically assisted reproductive treatments” should be covered by any health insurance plan in the state that provides full pregnancy coverage. The question itself mentions in vitro fertilization, one of the most common fertility treatments.
According to the Center for Disease Control, its preferred term, “assisted reproductive technology,” includes any fertility treatment that involves handling ovarian eggs or embryos. Treatments that involve someone taking medicine to encourage egg production and those where only sperm is handled, such as artificial insemination, are not included.
3% tax on wealthiest citizens
The second ballot measure, on the subject of income tax, is relatively straightforward. Voters will be asked if Illinois should amend its constitution to create a new 3% tax on income above $1 million. If voters pass the ballot measure and Illinois officials choose to follow through, funds raised by the extra tax will be earmarked and dedicated to property tax relief. According to WBEZ, the state estimates it will rake in at least $4.5 billion each year if such a tax goes into effect.
Election interference
The third question on the ballot considers recourse in cases of election interference. Voters will be asked if candidates up for election on ballots in Illinois — for all races, not just those at the state or local level — should be subject to civil penalties if they attempt to interfere or do interfere with the official duties of an election worker. The question specifies civil penalties, which most often take the form of fines.
All three ballot measures were approved by the Illinois General Assembly in May as part of Public Act 103-0586. In approving these three questions, state lawmakers rejected a fourth advisory question.
That question would have asked voters if any person or entity, including schools and clinics, would require the written consent of a minor’s parent or guardian before it can provide non-emergency medical services or any services related to gender identity or “modification,” including therapy.
Under Illinois law, when more than three measures are submitted for inclusion on ballots, the state operates by a first-come-first-serve policy, meaning this question was the last one to be initiated.
