Experts say election results likely won’t be known on Election Day.
Illinois voters are heading to the polls through Election Day, and all voters in the state will be faced with a series of advisory questions.
Those advisory questions, the first Illinois voters have faced in a decade, cover a variety of topics, with election security, property tax relief and reproductive health care all on the ballot.
So what are the advisory questions? Does anything happen if voters approve of them? And how often does an advisory question yield a legislative result?
Here’s everything to know about the questions you’ll see on your ballot. For full lists of referendums, some of which are binding, that you could see on your ballot, check out our list of Chicago referendums, and of suburban Chicago referendums.
What are the three advisory questions in this year’s election?
All voters in the state of Illinois will see these three questions on their ballots.
Question 1: Should any candidate appearing on the Illinois ballot for federal, state or local office be subject to civil penalties if the candidate interferes or attempts to interfere with an election worker’s official duties?
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Question 2: Should the Illinois Constitution be amended to create an additional 3% tax on income greater than $1,000,000 for the purpose of dedicating funds raised to property tax relief?
Question 3: Should all medically appropriate assisted reproductive treatments, including, but not limited to, in vitro fertilization, be covered by any health insurance plan in Illinois that provides coverage for pregnancy benefits, without limitation on the number of treatments?
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All three questions appeared in SB 2412, which passed the assembly in May.
Will the votes be binding in any way?
All three questions are “advisory” in nature, meaning they are only used to gauge public support levels of different policy proposals.
A “yes” vote will not guarantee that any of the three questions will result in legislation being passed by the General Assembly.
How often do voters face statewide advisory questions?
The last time Illinois had a statewide advisory question was in 2014. Illinois voters were asked if the minimum wage should be increased to $10 per hour, if health insurance plans should cover prescription birth control and whether the Constitution should be amended to provide additional funding for school districts, raised by instituting a 3% tax on income greater than $1 million.
What happened with those advisory questions?
All three referendums passed, and ultimately Illinois lawmakers raised the minimum wage from $8.25 to $10. Another piece of legislation set yearly increases for the wage.
The state’s Department of Insurance says that state-regulated insurance plans are required to cover abortion, including medication abortion. Both Illinois law and the Affordable Care Act also require coverage of contraceptive products approved by the FDA, according to the IDI’s website.
The last question regarding the income tax would require an amendment to the state’s Constitution, which only allows for a flat income tax of 4.95% of net income, regardless of the amount of income a person reports.
Illinois officials attempted to pass a graduated income tax via Constitutional amendment, but the measure failed in 2020, with “no” votes adding up to 53.27% of the ballots cast.
