(The Center Square) – In addition to the presidential race and Illinois races, there were a wide array of local ballot questions around the state on Election Day, dealing with tax increases and voting itself.
In Effingham County, a question on whether tax dollars should be used for illegal immigrants was rejected 90% to 10%.
A tax increase in Effingham County to go to local schools was also defeated, and voters rejected a tax increase in Champaign County to go towards public safety. The money would have gone toward hiring mental health professionals for the sheriff’s department and three more attorneys in the public defender’s office.
Public defender Elisabeth Pollack told WCIA TV her office is short-handed.
“It hurts us to not be able to do the job adequately the way we want to be able to do it so we all end up working a lot, probably more than we should to maintain healthy lifestyles, and yet we do it because we care,” said Pollack.
Also on Tuesday, seven more Illinois counties voted in favor of separating from Cook County in non-binding referendums, including Madison County in Metro East, which is home to over a quarter-million people. Iroquois County was the first county to vote on the issue that is not more southerly than Peoria.
The group Red-State Secession has proposed adding up to 3 million Illinoisans to Indiana, Missouri, or Kentucky. Their proposals include options that would be a fiscal benefit to the neighboring state.
Peoria County voters were asked if the state should adopt ranked-choice voting. Residents voted “yes” by a two-to-one margin. Earlier this year, an Illinois task force exploring the idea heard from Boone County Clerk Meg Sybert, who said she doesn’t see the reason to change the system.
“In 2020, we had the systems in place to handle vote by mail, early vote, all of that, we have been progressive in that,” said Sybert. “In this instance, I’m not seeing what the problem is we’re trying to fix with this.”
McLean County and Champaign County voters said they want to keep the Auditor’s Office as an elected position.
