GOP Turns Attention To Amish Voters In Key Background State

“I want you to know, we are courting the Amish vote,” conservative activist Scott Presler said at a political conference. “The Amish, if they are mobilized, could literally save Western civilization.” 

The Amish have traditionally avoided mainstream politics, although some Republicans recently made an attempt to court them as a potential voting group. 

When Amish voters actually vote, which is not a given since they make up the bulk of the non-voters group, many register to vote as Republicans because of their socially conservative and religious values.

Conservative activist Scott Presler even said at a political conference, “When I go to the Amish and I tell them that they can have a private secret ballot that is sent to their homes, and they don’t have to drive their buggy to town and go to a polling location and have that stigma from their community: they love the idea of mail-in ballots. And how epic would it be if a tool of the Democrats was used in order to get out the Amish vote and win and elect Donald J. Trump?” 

Presler is the leader of this new charge to win over Amish voters, specifically in Pennsylvania. He said that some Amish are open to mail-in voting because it saves them the hassle of going to polling places.

Presler has been posting consistently about Amish voters and their important role in this 2024 election.

He posted: “For the next 40+ days, I am not leaving Pennsylvania. I even purchased property in Pennsylvania just to vote for Donald Trump. We have 40+ paid staff on the ground & ALL of our resources are going to PA. This is it — the final battle. We’re all in.”

There are almost 400,000 Amish across the U.S. and their largest communities in rural Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is the home of the largest Amish community, with about 44,000 inhabitants. 

The Amish do not generally vote, a fact reflected in their low voter turnout despite their rapid population growth. In Lancaster County, where 15,000 eligible Amish voters reside, only around 1,000 voted in the general election. That number had surged to about 3,000 voters by 2020.

 

I want to help change that,” said Presler, who heads the PAC Early Vote Action. He and a team of others have been in Pennsylvania for the past several weeks, and hope to be here 40 days total registering Amish voters.

Despite the fact that Presler is not affiliated with the Republican National Committee (RNC) his accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. Lara Trump, the co-Chair of the RNC has praised Presler as having registered more voters than anyone she knows. Donald Trump Jr. also endorsed Presler, and supported his voter registration campaign among the Amish.

Presler has already made an impact with his grassroots activism in Pennsylvania. He recently posted: “WE DID IT! IT IS DONE! We flipped Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from 🔵🔜🔴. This is monumental, earth-shattering, ground shaking news. Thank you to EVERY single volunteer that contributed to this victory!”