The Amish & their Role in the Election

A neighbor once asked me why I hung linens outside instead of using a dryer. I said it keeps me in touch with my Amish roots. I don’t actually have any Amish roots and the real question is why would you NOT hang linens outside if you have the choice? The house has hooks in the mortar and there’s a wooden post across the yard that I call the “Clothing Cross,” designed to hang laundry. It’s old-fashioned, down to earth, and as close to Amish as I’ll likely get.

With a new Administration, one of the voting blocs that stood out this recent election was the Amish one in Pennsylvania. I’ve always found this community intriguing and watched documentaries about them. With 19 electoral votes, whoever wins Pennsylvania often wins the presidency.

Radio talk show host, Dan Bongino, kept saying for weeks, “Vote early and bring 10 people with you.” His reasoning included something going wrong on election day – bad weather, a power outage, etc. As feared, some of the voting machines went down in Pennsylvania and his suggestion was to stay in line, send someone for sandwiches and get a diaper.

There was another point to Bongino’s urge to vote early, as it usually favors Democrats. The Democrats could bank on early numbers and they would be confidant the Republicans could not surpass them on election day. As Republicans showed up in record numbers for early voting, Bongino claimed the math would not add up in the Dems’ favor and they would be out of runway. 

An interesting chunk of information came from Scott Presler, founder of EarlyVoteAction.org, who was interviewed by Bongino. Presler spoke of how he went to Pennsylvania with three groups in mind – the Amish, Jewish men and hunters. For the latter, he visited shooting ranges, spoke with unregistered voters and helped them sign up.

Presler spent weeks with the Amish enlightening them, helping work on their farms and was taught how to milk a cow. They became acquainted with each other and Presler helped register them and arranged rides to the election site.

Another key player was longtime area resident, Liesa Burwell-Perry. She organized “200 community members to shuttle about 26,000 Amish people to the polls to vote for Donald Trump on Election Day — one of the highest turnouts the region has seen in recent history,” reported the New York Post.”

The Amish Community

Interesting information regarding the Amish community can be found by the Elizabethtown College Groups and summarized below –

The Amish live in 675 geographical settlements in 32 states. Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) live in three states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. The population has doubled over the past 20 years due to sizable families.

Despite residing in different states, “Pennsylvania Dutch” is the standard language and they’re fluent in English as a second language. Pennsylvania Dutch is actually a Pennsylvania German dialect although not many Amish speak traditional German. 

Contrary to popular belief, the Amish use technology decided by their local church. For example, batteries are usually allowed to power “lights on buggies, calculators, fans, flashlights, cash registers, copy machines, and typewriters.”

The automobile, however, is discouraged because it could literally drive their community apart by travelers straying further from home, hence the horse and buggy. Public transportation is allowed on buses, boats, and trains as passengers, but not air travel.

The Amish pay taxes for “income, property, sales, estate, corporate, and school.” Many actually “pay school taxes twice — for both public and private Amish schools.” They are exempt from Social Security because the Amish consider it a form of commercial insurance, which they oppose. They believe their “physical and material needs” should be taken care of through each other as part of their church.

The family network provides a “dense web of social support from cradle to grave.” Strong support is provided for help with natural emergencies such as storms, floods, fires and death. Other issues like disputes are handled by an elder within the family. 

There are no retirement homes in the Amish community. Again, the family supports each other and the elderly live within the home or have a small adjacent house on the property called a “Grossdawdy Haus.”

Another Amish term “Rumspringa” means “running around” and applies to youth starting at about age 16 – late 20s, where they are allowed to socialize on weekends. During this time, either marriage results or a decision to be baptized into the church, otherwise leave the community.

Conversely, outsiders are allowed to join the Amish community if they accept the rules, become baptized, join the church and learn the language.

Different Voting Blocs Add Up

A major factor with the Amish voting Right is the Conservative stance on less government. The Amish clearly want to be left alone but found the government has a history of crossing lines.

One Amish member saw his family “repeatedly raided by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigators searching for raw milk products.” It happened again in January, 2024, when the Amos Miller Organic Farm was raided and thousands of dollars’ worth of raw milk and other products were confiscated, reported the New York Post. Although the Amish did not carry Pennsylvania, they certainly helped.

The week before the election, Bongino was reading early numbers of the black vote in other states and said if this trend kept going, it would put Trump over the top rather quickly and the election would be called the same night. Barack Obama’s lecturing black men on how to vote sounded insulting and may have backfired.  

In the end, Trump won an unprecedented 16% of black and 42% of Latino votes, according to PBS. Numerous conservative hosts stated that Trump typically under-polls because of the backlash his supporters face, so they won’t admit anything (hence, the Silent Majority).

Despite all this, mainstream media kept reporting Kamala Harris in the lead. After the election, both CNN and MSNBC’s ratings plummeted to half, while Fox News has increased, according to the Wall Street Journal.