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Chicago voters back all six ballot questions. Gunshot detection got 72%, after a Council that split on it in 2024 voted 49-0 to ask

Unofficial returns show near-85% support for seeking federal money over immigration enforcement and about 80% for two millionaire tax questions. None of them is binding. Here's what the Council's own votes show.

By Chicago PoliticsUpdated

Chicago voters said yes to all six advisory questions on Tuesday's ballot, according to unofficial returns. The federal compensation question drew the widest margin, close to 85% yes. Restarting gunshot detection got about 72% and a permanent festival site about 68%. Both millionaire tax questions passed with about 80%, and the vacant property fee for schools with about 74%, Block Club Chicago reported, counting results as of 11 p.m. with more than 90% of the city's 1,291 precincts in.

Why it matters: none of these answers changes a law. But three of the questions came from the City Council, and the gunshot detection and federal compensation answers land while the Council is writing the 2027 budget and the City is testing its own gunshot detection system.

The numbers

These are unofficial and will change as mail ballots arrive. NBC Chicago's results page, at about 95% of the expected vote when we checked Wednesday morning, showed:

  • Gunshot detection: 72.5% yes (447,475 to 169,938).
  • Permanent festival and event space: 67.8% yes (414,153 to 196,542).
  • Federal compensation for immigration enforcement costs: 84.9% yes (526,034 to 93,599).
  • A millionaire tax for schools (from the Board of Education): 80.7% yes.
  • A fee on long-vacant or undeveloped property for schools (Board of Education): 73.8% yes.

The sixth question, the Cook County Board's proposed 3% surcharge on income over $1 million, had about 80.6% yes in unofficial returns, CBS Chicago reported. That one would need a change to the state constitution.

The Board of Election Commissioners hasn't certified anything yet. Its website, where ward and precinct results are posted, returned an access error to us Wednesday morning, so we don't have results for the ward-level questions yet, including the 26th Ward's question on short-term rentals.

What our records add

Gunshot detection passed the Council 49 to 0, though the members had split on the issue before. The question, R2026-0025451, was sponsored by Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) with six co-sponsors: Peter Chico (10th), Derrick Curtis (18th), Brian Hopkins (2nd), Matt O'Shea (19th), Brendan Reilly (42nd) and Monique Scott (24th). In committee on July 9, a motion to table it failed (watch). Then the full Council adopted it without a no vote on July 15 (watch).

That differs from the Council's 2024 votes on the technology itself. A 2024 ordinance directing the police superintendent to renew a gunshot detection contract passed 33 to 14, and 13 current members voted no, as we reported. The July vote was on putting the question to voters, not on a contract.

What's pending. An ordinance from Ald. Felix Cardona Jr. (31st) directing the chief procurement officer to act on the stalled gunshot detection contract cleared committee Oct. 20 and awaits the full Council. At that hearing, the procurement officer said in a letter that a City pilot in six South and West Side police districts would be running within two weeks. Block Club reported Tuesday that details of the pilot remain sparse.

The festival question (R2026-0025459), from Ald. Nicole Lee (11th), passed the Council 49 to 0 with no debate. It names no site, cost or operator; our explainer covers what would come next.

The federal compensation question (R2026-0026834), from Mayor Brandon Johnson, was adopted 46 to 1 on July 22. Block Club reported that the Mayor's Office has not said how the City would pursue the money. Any lawsuit or claim would go through the Law Department, whose budget hearing is Nov. 10.

The millionaire and vacant property questions didn't come from the Council. How each question got on the ballot is in our Nov. 1 guide.

What's next

  • Nov. 17: last day for mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to arrive and be counted, 14 days after the election.
  • Thu., Nov. 5: the Council's budget hearing on the Office of Emergency Management and Communications and the Fire Department, where gunshot detection came up last year.
  • Dec. 8 and 9: the next full Council meetings, where the gunshot detection procurement ordinance could come up.
  • We'll report ward-level and precinct results once the Board's site is reachable and its results are posted.