Over the past year, it has been inspiring to see people turn out in droves to protect and expand reproductive rights in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and across the country in spite of daunting restrictions and harmful, anti-democratic rhetoric. As we rapidly approach the end of another election season in which support for reproductive rights is a mobilizing issue for people, we have the opportunity to expand fundamental rights and enshrine new protections through state courts.
State courts have become a focal point in the fight for reproductive rights. In the two years since the end of Roe, anti-democratic forces have enacted dozens of abortion bans at the state level. Some state courts, like those in Florida, South Carolina, and Idaho have allowed bans on abortion access to become the reality for millions of Americans, while others have defended and affirmed the fundamental right to abortion.
Proponents of gender, reproductive, and racial equity have historically focused the majority of their advocacy efforts on the federal judiciary — but the tide of attacks on abortion access bolstered by state courts can no longer be overlooked. While the federal judicial landscape has stayed mostly stagnant post-Roe, we saw an opportunity to get involved in the most important battles in the fight for reproductive access at the state level. So that’s where we went. In last year’s state supreme court elections in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, voters showed up to the polls en masse because they wanted fair and impartial justices who will uphold their state’s constitutional protection to abortion access. Still, in a presidential election year, national politics tend to monopolize the discussion — threatening to obscure the disproportionate role that state courts will play in determining our reproductive rights in the coming years (over 90% of all judicial decisions happen at the state court level).
In a moment when our federal judiciary is dominated by judges hostile to gender, reproductive, and racial equity, state courts are critical to protecting and expanding these rights. With 33 state court elections on the docket across the country this November, it’s critical that more voters understand that who they do (or don’t) vote in state judiciary races will have a huge effect on their own rights.
Voters need to be informed of their options and of what’s at stake to ensure that state courts can serve as a strong and fair safeguard for reproductive rights and gender equity, and reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. That’s why CGRE has seeded multi-year investments to grantee partners across a dozen states to drive proactive litigation, encourage nonpartisan civic engagement, and invest in education and capacity building to engage voters during pivotal state court elections.
One of the most persistent challenges in this work is getting voters to understand just how much their votes matter, especially for state court judges. More importantly, it’s getting them to understand the significant power that state courts can have in their daily lives. We’ve seen judicial and even legislative elections affected by “ballot roll-off” — the phenomenon in which voters focus on top-ticket candidates, like presidential and gubernatorial races, but do not cast votes in other important elections further down their ballots. CGRE is supporting grantee partners working to educate voters in Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, and Michigan on the importance of voting their whole ballot this year, including state judicial candidates. We’re building on a few key lessons learned from the monumental success seen in last year’s judicial elections in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In Wisconsin, Justice Janet Protasiewicz’s historic victory was supported by tireless advocacy and early polling that helped advocates engage communities on their own terms. Ahead of the election, A Better Wisconsin Together Institute drove voter polling and research, gathering insights into Wisconsinites’ views toward the state supreme court. They found that abortion was the #1 mobilizing issue among core voters and among the top issues for swing voters and many voters of color. These insights ultimately played a significant role in Justice Protasiewicz’s success in reshaping a court more supportive of reproductive rights.
Once we understand what voters care about, we can mitigate ballot roll-off by reaching voters with civic engagement campaigns that speak to their needs and concerns. For the New Pennsylvania Project and New Voices for Reproductive Justice, this meant raising awareness of the 2023 state supreme court election among Black voters through videos and campaign materials designed to illustrate the role of the state supreme court in securing and advancing critical rights like abortion.
With all eyes on the presidential race, state judicial candidates can get lost in the fray. Our grantee partners are engaged in strategies to make sure that communities are prepared to vote up and down the ballot:
Despite the hurdles, the last few years have made clear that when people turn out to vote, abortion wins. When communities, advocates, and funders rally together around state courts as opportunities to advance justice, we unlock new, localized power to expand rights across movements. We can support a diverse, fair, and impartial judiciary where all constituents are represented and where rights will be protected.
Cristina Uribe serves as the director of advocacy + judicial strategies at the Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity.