More Tennessee women are registering to vote. Polling suggests abortion is the reason.

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June sparked protest in cities across the US. And there’s also evidence that it sparked a boost in voter registration among women. The New York Times reported noticeable gains in women registering to vote in several states, including key swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. Numbers in Tennessee show that could be happening here, too. 

 Since the ruling by the Supreme Court, more than 58,000 Tennesseans have registered to vote. That number makes up a third of all new voter registrations this year. And of that, more than half are women.

Tappan Vickery works with the nationwide voter registration group HeadCount. She says most of the new voters they’ve registered are focused on abortion access. 

“Because of the Dobbs decision, voters in states really have the opportunity to raise their voice and vote on the issue of abortion access no matter how they feel about it,” Vickery said. “We have also seen increased engagement and interest around the subject that really transcends gender.”

Vickery says the main drive is coming from people who just turned 18 and list this issue as one of their top concerns.

A recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll backs up the idea that new registrants rank abortion as a top issue for this election cycle. Nearly 77% of Democrats polled and 58% of independents said they were more likely to vote after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs opinion, which overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.