Eye On Illinois: Don’t get too excited about advisory ballot questions

Even if you’re not still paying attention to former Gov. Pat Quinn, chances are good you’ll eventually hear about the Illinois Property Tax Relief Amendment Referendum.

Quinn sought media attention Thursday morning outside the Cook County Treasurer’s Office to begin stumping for yes votes for a question on the November general election ballot: “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?”

There is perhaps an inclination to debate the merits of the proposal, such as the potential for alienating people who earn more than $1 million each year, or the plausibility of using income tax to offset property tax, given those funding streams generally affect different levels of government.

And sure, those debates are interesting, informative and a welcome respite from the hot-button social issues that have come to dominate so much of the contemporary political conversation. But those arguments also put the cart a few lengths in front of the horse, as the referendum is advisory. As in functionally meaningless aside from the potential to influence lawmakers.

Actually amending the constitution, which voters accomplished in 2022 with a measure called the Workers’ Rights Amendment, is a detailed process: a state lawmaker must file a joint resolution. That measure needs to pass both chambers with 60% favorability – 36 of 59 senators and 71 of 118 representatives – in order to advance to the statewide ballot.

From there, it either needs to get 60% yes votes from everyone voting on the question or at least 50.1% of yes votes compared to every completed ballot. This is how the Workers’ Rights Amendment passed. A bit more than 58% of people voting on that question were in favor, but that number represented well more than half of those who cast any midterm ballot.

But advisory referenda are just that: voters are asked if something is a good idea, and whatever they answer only means something if citizens can make lawmakers agree. Average folks are able to exert political influence without an advisory referendum in their quiver, an outcome no more or less likely than the General Assembly noticing an advisory vote result and then simply carrying on with their own priorities.

The other nonbinding questions on the November ballot address in vitro fertilization and penalties for election worker interference. And since state law limits the number of questions to three, there’s no room left for something that might actually change Illinois.

Democrats threw these questions together quickly, all while changing candidate slating rules. Republicans lacked the electoral power to interfere, and citizen initiatives never had a chance.

That’s effective politics, but not good government.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. Follow him on X @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.