(The Center Square) – Election Day Tuesday features important local races around Illinois, but also advisory questions that could impact the issues affecting residents the most.
Local elections feature mayoral races around the state, including in Aurora, Arlington Heights and the village of Dolton, where embattled mayor Tiffany Henyard was ousted.
In Manteno, mayoral candidates took sides on whether they support the Chinese-owned Gotion battery plant and how local officials handled the project.
Dylan Sharkey, assistant editor at Illinois Policy Institute, said over a half million residents will have the opportunity to chime in on advisory questions that indirectly could affect property taxes.
“One of the questions is regarding the pension crisis, another involves gerrymandering of political maps, and then the third one deals with unfunded mandates to local governments, and so thousands of voters are going to see at least one of those questions on their ballots,” said Sharkey.
Sharkey said while the results will not change state law, they will send a message to state leaders to reform the policies that impact taxpayers the most.
“These are advisory questions so they won’t directly change any laws but what it will do is send a signal to state lawmakers about how voters feel,” said Sharkey.
There are also sales tax questions in several communities. There is controversy involving McLean County’s tax question, which asks voters if they wish to add a 1% sales tax to most retail purchases, including gasoline. The money would go towards schools, but a complaint was filed with the Regional Office of Education alleging that school districts were violating election code by sharing the website that asked voters to approve the tax.
Some communities will be asking if a 1% local grocery tax should be implemented after the statewide grocery tax ends in January 2026. Over 40 communities around Illinois have already voted to restore the tax.
There is a wide array of local questions on ballots around the state, from whether ranked choice voting should be used in Skokie, to whether residents in Winfield should be allowed to own backyard chickens.
