The Chicago Tax Referendum and the primary prosecutor are too close to call

Vote counting continued Wednesday afternoon in Chicago, where two high-profile local races from Tuesday’s primaries were still too close to happen.

A referendum that would change the city’s property transfer tax and raise rates on high-value properties to fund homelessness programs appeared to fail in the tabular vote, but thousands of Election Day and mail ballots remain, according to unofficial results from city officials. be counted.

In the race for the Democratic nomination as top prosecutor in Cook County, Illinois, Eileen O’Neill Burke, a retired appellate judge, had a slight lead over her opponent, Clayton Harris III, a university professor and former prosecutor. Cook County includes Chicago and some of its suburbs.

Both the ballot measure and Mr. Harris’ candidacy were supported by Chicago’s progressive establishment, leaving many city officials and activists frustrated by the potential failure of both. Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat who took office last year, supported the ballot measure.

Twenty Chicago counties were unable to report results Tuesday evening because election judges did not or could not properly report the results and left the sites without a final count, election officials said.

“Ultimately, the picture for the election this weekend will be much clearer,” Max Bever, a spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, said in an email.

Mr. Bever said 176,870 ballots have been mailed to voters who requested them for Tuesday’s primary. Only 66,339 of those ballots had been received as of Monday and counted in the initial results. Ballots postmarked by Election Day must be counted even if they arrive later this week.

Only 20 percent of registered voters in Chicago cast ballots.

Both candidates in the state’s attorney race are vying to succeed Kim Foxx, a Democrat who came to power in 2016 promising to change the criminal justice system with a progressive platform. She has chosen not to stand for re-election this year after two terms.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face a Republican in November, though partisan races across the country are rarely competitive.

The ballot measure called for reducing the city’s transfer tax on properties selling for less than $1 million, but imposing higher rates on homes and commercial buildings selling for more than $1 million. The additional money — supporters say it would be at least $100 million a year — would be spent on addressing homelessness, with the details of that spending to be finalized later.

Opponents of the measure agreed that homelessness was a problem but argued that the tax would deal another blow to an office real estate market still mired in a post-pandemic vacancy crisis.