Voters consider election issues on reproductive health, tax reform, election interference

A sample ballot depicts the advisory questions that will appear on Illinois ballots this year.
Capitol News Illinois

The results are not binding, but policymakers can consider them when proposing policies

Lawmakers in Illinois are asking voters to weigh in on three hot-button issues at their ballot boxes this year: election interference, income taxes and reproductive health care.

Voters in Illinois are being asked three “advisory” questions that ask voters whether they support a specific policy, but are not legally binding. Lawmakers can take the results into account when considering which policies to advocate in future legislative sessions.

The three questions, as they appear on the ballots, are:

• Should any candidate appearing on the Illinois ballot for federal, state or local office be subject to civil penalties if they interfere or attempt to interfere with the official duties of an election worker?

• Should the Illinois Constitution be amended to create an additional 3% tax on income over $1,000,000 with the goal of dedicating funds raised to reducing property taxes?

• Must all medically appropriate assisted reproductive treatments, including, but not limited to, in vitro fertilization, be covered by any health insurance plan in Illinois that offers coverage for pregnancy benefits without limitation on the number of treatments?

These questions are being asked because lawmakers passed Senate Bill 2412 in early May, directing state election officials to add them to ballots.

“All three questions address issues that are important to voters or are issues that have been reported in the news media,” bill sponsor Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, said in an interview this week.

The last time advisory questions were placed on Illinois statewide ballots was in 2014. That year, voters were asked three questions: one about a possible increase in the state’s minimum wage, one about whether insurers should be required to cover prescription birth control and one relating to income tax in excess of $1 million.

While Hoffman said he has “learned not to predict” what votes like this one will look like or how they will be used, he said the 2014 vote “ultimately led to the passage of the minimum wage increase.”

That measure passed in early 2019 after Governor JB Pritzker made a personal appeal to lawmakers shortly after taking office.

This year’s advisory questions generated little in the way of campaigning, but some Illinois politicians expressed support.

Former Gov. Pat Quinn is traveling the state to encourage a “Yes” vote on a tax increase on incomes above $1 million.

“It’s important for people to know that we have the opportunity to not only vote for candidates, especially president, but we also have an opportunity in Illinois to vote on issues, issues that could make a difference in family budgets for years to come. come,” Quinn said at a news conference at the Capitol on Wednesday.

The referendum, in addition to resembling an advisory question in 2014, echoes parts of a constitutional amendment that was presented to voters in 2020.

This amendment would have repealed the state’s constitutional requirement for a flat income tax rate — a step that would still be necessary to implement the policy outlined in this year’s advisory question.

When voters went to the polls in 2020, they rejected the change — a stinging result for Gov. JB Pritzker, who donated $58 million of his personal fortune to a campaign in favor of a graduated income tax.

To learn more about referenda on your ballot, contact your local election office — usually your county clerk — or visit Capitol News Illinois’ Local Election Guide.

• Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of media outlets across the state. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.