By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Illinois voters are deciding 85 local property tax referendums Tuesday, including a $295 million measure in Northwest Suburban High School District 214, according to figures cited during an Election Day radio broadcast on AM 560.
Radio host Jeannie Ives cited the 85-referendum count twice during the broadcast but did not identify an official source for the figure. The count has not been independently confirmed with the Illinois State Board of Elections for this report.
The District 214 referendum, covering the Arlington Heights area, was described on-air as the single largest property tax measure on Tuesday’s ballot. Several District 214 schools were closed for Election Day because they serve as polling locations, according to the broadcast. The district had also held mock elections for students ahead of Tuesday’s vote, hosts said on-air.
Ives argued that the volume of referendums tests whether Illinois voters who say they oppose rising property taxes will vote against the measures when given the chance. “If voters truly care about property taxes, all 85 should go down in defeat,” Ives said during the broadcast.
Ives also said no Republican legislators voted for a recent state budget that included tax increases, while all but five Democrats supported it, according to her account on-air. That vote count has not been independently confirmed against the Illinois General Assembly’s official roll call for this report.
Ives said the referendum results would serve as a real-time test of whether voters follow through on stated opposition to higher property taxes when casting ballots on specific local measures, as opposed to in general polling. She said a Democratic win in the 52nd Senate District, where Nabila Syed is a candidate, would further illustrate what she described on-air as a disconnect between voter sentiment and voting behavior.
The property tax referendums appear on the same statewide ballot as races for Illinois General Assembly seats, the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education presidency and six Chicago advisory questions.
Results of the referendums are expected to be reported Tuesday night as polls close across Illinois, providing an early test of how local voters respond to the tax measures on the ballot.
Under Illinois law, many local property tax increases above state-imposed limits require voter approval through a ballot referendum, which is why school districts and municipalities place such measures before voters rather than enacting them directly. Tuesday’s 85 measures span school districts, park districts and municipalities across multiple counties, according to the broadcast.
