2024 Election: Will The “Amish Vote” Actually Matter This Time? (2 Factors That Could Make A Difference)
With the election nearly upon us, we have gotten our fair share of the expected “Will the Amish vote?” articles.
I’ve been seeing this coverage for months now. I have contributed to some of it as well (for some reason, mostly for French-language publications).
Among the latest is this piece from Deseret News, which suggests two things of interest that could motivate more Amish to vote this time around: 1) mail-in voting, and 2) the Amos Miller raw milk case.
The Amish & Voting
Before looking at those two factors, if you’d like an overview of the Amish and voting, you can check out my article (or video above) on it.
In a nutshell, Amish vote at much lower rates than the general population, but when they do vote, they vote overwhelmingly Republican. That’s why we’ve seen appeal efforts dating back to George W. Bush in 2004, and including recent outreach by the Amish PAC.
In essence, it usually doesn’t amount to much. But given the importance of Pennsylvania – and the constantly-growing Amish population – the question of wooing the “Amish voter bloc” has become a regular feature of election coverage every two-to-four years.
1. Mail-in voting: will it unlock the Amish vote?
That’s what Scott Presler, who is spearheading the “Amish voter outreach” this time around, hopes is the case:
“I go in, and I challenge them respectfully, and say, why don’t you guys vote?” Presler told me. Presler’s group offers rides to the polls for Amish families; if they prefer absentee ballots, Presler helps them register to vote-by-mail.
“It’s actually very ironic, because Republicans are kind of against mail-in voting,” he said. “But the Amish, they like a mail-in vote because it’s secret and it’s private, right? So they love the idea of a secret ballot coming to them that then they just mail, and nobody in their town has to know that they voted. The Amish elder doesn’t know how they have voted. Nobody has to know.”
I can see the point – make it easier, and essentially anonymous, to vote. Mail-in voting can remove a practical roadblock, and stigma for some Amish people.

Worth noting: these articles usually only focus on Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, where generally any stigma over voting is less than in more traditional communities, and where Amish people tend to be fairly mobile with the network of Amish taxis available to them.
You can understand why operatives focus on the community, being the largest and one of the most progressive in the country. But there are still 50,000 more Amish in Pennsylvania. You rarely see much about reaching Amish in the rest of the state.
I would be curious to know how much has been done to reach those people, if anything. There is a single hint in this article that efforts have not been limited to Lancaster County: “…Presler’s Early Vote Action army prepares mailers and zig-zags the state with voter registration forms and “Amish For Trump” yard signs.”
I guess “zig-zagging” would suggest going to Amish areas beyond Lancaster County – perhaps related settlements in places like nearby Lebanon County, and the central valleys.
2. The Amos Miller factor?
Amos Miller, whose troubles over raw milk sales have gone on for nearly a decade, is purported to be a factor this time around as well. The article calls him an “Amish hero”…which are two words I’ve never seen side-by-side before.
If you don’t know it already, here is Amos Miller’s story in a nutshell:
As the 2024 election approached, the Trump world found its Amish hero: Amos Miller, the dairy farmer in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania. He has become something of a folk hero for his ongoing fight with the state over his efforts to sell raw dairy goods.
In 2016, the FDA discovered traces of listeria in Miller’s products; then in early 2024, after years of back-and-forth, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture executed a search warrant at Miller’s farm, and blocked him from selling raw milk.
On why it’s become a nationally-known political story:
On the Trump right, it was a clear example of blatant government overreach. Dozens of demonstrators marched outside the Lancaster County courthouse where Miller’s hearing was held. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, tweeted that Miller was just a “man growing food”: “With all of the problems in society today, this is what the government wants to focus on?”
When Presler was invited onstage during Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania this month, he made a pitch directly to Miller and his followers. “To our beautiful Amish in Lancaster in Pennsylvania and across the state, we will protect your raw milk, your dairy, your farming, your school choice, your religious freedom, your ability to have ten beautiful children per family,” he said.
And this is what Miller had to say on his own vote:
Miller isn’t so sure — not publicly, at least. When I visited his farm in early October, he declined to say whether he would be voting in this year’s election. “That’s a personal choice,” he said. When asked what he thinks of the candidates, he mentioned only Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by name, the former independent candidate who dropped out and endorsed Trump. “He respects farm-to-consumer freedom,” Miller said. “We’re very excited about that. That’s always special to have those kinds of endorsements, that they respect our beliefs.”
On his pretty as a picture farm in Bird-in-Hand, 10 miles south of the Green Dragon market, Mr Miller, 46, a father of eight and grandfather of two, likens his plight to the jailing of his own grandfather in the 1940s for refusing to send his children to school past 8th grade. Mr Miller will be voting for Trump on Nov 5.
“The election,” he says, “is not a big discussion [in the community]. You can vote at your own choice. They [the religious leaders] don’t discourage it. I am registered to vote.” Asked who he will vote for, Mr Miller smiles. When I ask him if it will be for Trump, he says “yes”. It feels reluctant. “We put our faith in God. We want him to be the leader in the community.”
After his case blew up, attention-wise, earlier this year, I’d say Miller is easily the highest-profile Amish person in the country. That noted, also note his traditionally Amish nod to humility and faith in God.
Miller says that above all, “agricultural freedom” is his number-one issue. If others in his community are like-minded, that might help boost Amish turnout.
Besides that, it likely will boost turnout among a segment of non-Amish voters, angered and motivated by what’s been done to this “Amish hero”.
Is this the year?
So will this time around be different? Is this the election that Amish come out in the droves which political operatives have sought for several cycles now? What is realistic?
Presler, who moved to PA this year for this effort, shared the numbers he’s aiming for in an article for the Telegraph:
“I would consider it a success to get anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 Amish, which could very well swing the election.” To put it in perspective in 2020, it’s estimated that just 2,000 to 3,000 Amish voted. Mr Presler’s aides on the ground believe they can recruit 20,000 Amish to their cause, half the eligible vote.
If Presler’s efforts prove successful, it’s possible the last presidential election may be the beginning of a trend.
On that, Steven Nolt of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist at Elizabethtown College noted a jump in Amish turnout in 2020:
When Nolt and his fellow researchers concluded their study of 2020 election turnout, cross-checking Lancaster County voter registration data with Amish church membership directories, they found a big jump in Amish turnout: some 2,940 people voted in the election out of over 4,000 registered, more than double those figures in 2016.
Due to the pandemic, Nolt and his team couldn’t conduct the traditional face-to-face research that would get at why that jump occurred. Nolt’s hypothesis, offered with a shrug, was this: turnout efforts were more targeted, more efficient and better planned than in 2016.
At the same time, does 20,000 Amish sound ambitious? It does to me – as does even 10,000 Pennsylvania Amish voters. Something in the neighborhood of 5,000 statewide Amish votes wouldn’t surprise me though. But I suppose we’ll know better in time.


Election Burnout
I may be suffering from it, but my kneejerk reaction to this is, “I wish people would just leave the Amish alone.” (I wish the politicians would leave ME alone. The spam text messages, phone calls, etc., are a nightmare.) The Amish I know can make decisions without much help from well-meaning Englisch. The government is quite fond of exercising power and control over them in part because they are an easy target. Perhaps rather than “getting out the vote” (which is important), we could start more movements that defend the Amish and their way of life. (This is not an accusation of Amish America or the article; it’s more of a voice crying in the wilderness. We could all do better at understanding–maybe even appreciating–the Amish and things like allowing them to decide whether or not to vote.)
Agreed!
Leave the Amish alone. In the old day’s it was hard to sort through the lies but with the internet now of witch they do not use, they are easily lied to, less informed. Most all farmers are fighting for the same things as the Amish, so we have them covered.
Harassment
No one should harass any one else. Grow up people.