Pennsylvania women have been running to the county elections offices (or logging onto their websites) in droves to register for the upcoming general election.
Since June 24 when the Supreme Court announced their reversal of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision granting women the constitutional right to privacy of their own healthcare decisions, including abortion, the Keystone State has seen nearly 25,000 new registrants, and approximately 13,500 or 56 percent of those have been women.
“Pennsylvania really jumped out at us, where we saw a surge in women registering to vote, a 12-point gender gap,” said Tom Bonier with Target Smart, a Washington, D.C.-based voter data analytics consultant.
This represents three times the normal gender gap, and the new registrants, by a margin exceeding four-to-one, overwhelmingly register as Democrats.
“The women who have registered to vote in Pennsylvania since June 24 (when Dobbs was decided,) over 60 percent of them are under the age of 25,” added Bonier.
President Joe Biden won Pennsylvania in 2020 by 80,555 votes, flipping a state carried by Donald Trump in 2016 when he won by 68,236 votes. In Bucks County, Biden won by 17,345 votes, whereas Clinton won by only 1,988 votes in 2016. Clearly, the huge surge in Bucks County votes going to Biden helped him to win PA’s 20 electoral votes and thus win the presidency.
The elections for governor, senate, congress, and the state legislature is Tuesday, Nov. 8. You can request a mail-in ballot until Nov. 1 then return it by Nov. 8. For clear instructions, please contact the Bucks County Board of Elections. Registration for the Nov. 8 general election in PA ends Monday, Oct. 24.
