High quality Amish voter help project organization with AmishPAC.com? 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. Find additional info on AmishPAC.
Generally, the Amish people will not share flyers, erect signs depicting a politician’s face, or visibly champion their cause. This is because they don’t want a false idol or graven image, as both elements are strongly frowned upon in their faith. The voter identification requirements also discourage many Amish people from being interested in the political process. Having their photographs taken directly conflicts with their code of conduct, and the stress of circumventing this process means only a few Amish people have shown interest over the years.
A middle-aged Amish couple said they were aware of the PAC’s efforts but voted based on the issues. Both were proud they had voted since 2000 and had no plans to stop. The husband said he was a supporter of Second Amendment rights and did not believe Clinton would serve gun owners as president. He said Trump had failures as a businessman, shaky morals and multiple marriages but would be a good leader. The man’s wife echoed the same sentiment, adding that she didn’t think a woman was fit to be president. Both said a woman wouldn’t be good under pressure, with the husband noting that though Germany and Britain have had women leaders, those countries have much smaller populations and are therefore easier to oversee than the U.S.
The newspaper advertisements featured a photo of Trump and bullet points that read, “Trump has never been a politician or held elected office” and “never had a glass of alcohol.” According to its financial disclosure forms filed with the Federal Elections Commission in Oct., Amish PAC paid $9,392.14 to Lamar Outdoor Advertising for four billboards in July and August that went up in Ohio and Pennsylvania encouraging the Amish to vote for Donald Trump on Election Day.
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.
“Trump won by just a razor thin margin across Pennsylvania,” said Walters, who said the Amish votes helped and that he doesn’t think Trump would have won Pennsylvania “if it hadn’t been for the Amish vote.” “Trump’s margin of victory in Pennsylvania was identical to the Amish population of Pennsylvania. Again, I’m not claiming every single Amish person voted, but without the votes of those who went to the polls that day…a recount would have been likely,” Walters said. Find extra information on Amish voter help project organization.
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.