Quality Amish voter help project recommendations from Amish PAC’s plain voter project? Our strategy for registering and turning out Amish voters: Amish PAC deploys old-fashioned newspaper ads and billboards throughout rural Pennsylvania and Ohio Amish country as part of a voter registration campaign specifically tailored to potential Amish and Mennonite voters. We also make a special hotline available to potential Amish voters who are interested in receiving more information about voting and requesting a registration form. It’s common for an Amishman to call and request registration forms for his wife and entire family. Discover even more information on Amish PAC’s Plain Voter Project.
In Pennsylvania, during the 2016 elections, out of the 15,055 Amish people eligible to vote in the state, only 2,052 registered. And of those, only 1,016 participated in the voting process. The highest turnout of Amish voters by percentage was in 2004, when about 13% of registered Amish voters participated in the elections and voted for George W. Bush, as they are typically Republican by registration and conviction. The seeming apathy of the Amish people stems from personal preference, though the church leaders discourage their followers from getting too involved in politics.
This man pointed to a shift in the community from agriculture as a means for a livelihood as a reason for more politically aware people in the community. With more people in skilled trades and outside the somewhat insular community, the reality of politics has become more clear. “I think it’s our duty to vote, and the newer generation is feeling that more,” he said, adding that his father would have voted for the first time were it not for his sisters’ wedding and missing the absentee deadline. His mother is more “old-fashioned” and does not vote.
The 500 Amish PAC volunteers went through Lancaster County, Pa. and knocked on doors to register the Amish and Mennonites to vote, held letter writing campaigns and sent mailers. To get mailing and email lists for volunteers and potential voters, the Amish PAC disclosed for the Federal Elections Commission that it disbursed $8,078 to Omega List. Walters said the Amish PAC volunteers showed at Amish weddings Election Day — there were more than 10 throughout Lancaster County, Pa. that day — and drove them to the polls to vote.
As the final vote tallies trickled in from Pennsylvania precincts, a man who worked to get the Amish community to the polls was still up watching returns in hopes his organization’s impact would push Donald Trump to the presidency. Ultimately, the Keystone State was not the final state to put Trump over the threshold, but Ben Walters, a co-founder of the Amish Political Action Committee, was happy. Though he hadn’t slept in 48 hours, Walters said, he planned to watch election returns until the nomination was secured or he dozed off — whichever came first.
He said the official report on how many Amish voters registered and then followed through with voting for Trump won’t be available until the spring, but he did say that at the close of voter registration Oct. 11, the GOP had registered 10,403 Amish voters compared to the Democrats, who registered 9,961 — a difference of just 442 people, said Walters. He said Pennsylvania is the state that put Trump over the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the election. See a lot more information on Amish vote registering advices.
The Amish are more likely to vote for individual and religious rights rather than government policies if they choose to vote at all. To appeal to this concern, people started the AmishPAC. This committee exists to encourage more electoral participation from the Amish people by improving Amish voter registration and turnout during elections. The creation of this political action committee solely to reach out to the Amish people shows the importance of their votes to politicians.