Abortion rights questions are on ballots in 9 states. Will they tilt elections?

Ballot measures on abortion access could attract voters to polls in November who otherwise might sit out the election — and even a small number of additional voters could make a difference in close races for offices from the state legislature to president.

Scholars and ballot measure experts are divided on the impact ballot measures have previously had on candidate elections. But in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, which ended the nationwide right to abortion, these measures are seen as ones that could sway results if any can.

“2024 is a test in this post-Dobbs world of how this issue being on the ballot will impact candidates,” said Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of The Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, which helps progressive groups with the details of pursuing and campaigning for ballot measures. “It is really dependent on whether candidates are willing to run on those issues.”

Voters in nine states are considering measures to add the right to abortion to their state constitutions in the highest profile of many ballot measures.

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