Top rated Amish voter help project guides by AmishPAC.com? Ohio and Pennsylvania host the largest population of Amish in the United States. Both states have nearly 100,000 Amish residents each, and that number is skyrocketing. The average Amish family has 6-8 children. When Amish vote, they vote for individual rights, religious rights and less government regulation on their farms and businesses. The objective of Amish PAC’s Plain Voter Project is to drive up Amish voter registration and turnout. See additional info on Amish PAC’s Plain Voter Project.
Only about 7% of Amish people vote. Traditionally, men and women in the tradition avoid politics, including voting in elections. However, for those that do vote, their Christian convictions tend to drive their participation in the democratic process. As of 2020, 31 U.S. states have significant Amish populations, with an estimated number of 344,670 Amish residents. Pennsylvania has the largest population of Amish people in the U.S., at approximately 81,500. Ohio is a close second at 78,200. Indiana is third at 59,305.
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.
Of the Amish voters who spoke to PennLive on Tuesday, nearly all said they voted for Trump, with a handful declining to address which candidate they supported. The overwhelming tenor of the Amish remarks on the election were that Trump was a flawed candidate but a better representative of the issues that matter to them. Because the Amish rarely grant interviews, PennLive is respecting the voters’ wishes not to be identified. One Amish voter, a man in his 30s, said it was the first time he had voted since 2008. He said he was unhappy with the political process but will continue to vote and voice his opinions.
The co-founder of the country’s first ever Republican Amish super Political Action Committee said there was a strong turn-out of Amish and Mennonite voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania for the presidential election and the organization is already looking ahead to the Ohio Senate race in 2018. Ben Walters, Amish PAC co-founder, said they knew Donald Trump, the president-elect, was going to win Ohio so the organization shifted its focus to Pennsylvania, where more than 500 volunteers helped register Amish and Mennonite voters and drive them to the polls on Election Day. Read more details at https://www.amishpac.com/.
The Amish believe in a simple lifestyle and try to be as self-sufficient as possible through subsistence farming and producing sellable products. To the Amish people, staying separate from the world includes not accepting aid from the government or using public grids. They hold traditional ideals that are family and community-centered and tend to avoid things that can cause division, strife, or classism among them. They prefer to hold on to their traditional institutions and practices, hence their preference for mostly conservative positions.
