Republicans seek votes among the Amish, who rarely cast them, in swing-state Pennsylvania

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 8:04 AM EDT, October 28, 2024


LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — On a recent weekday afternoon, an Amish man in a horse-drawn buggy navigated through a busy intersection of auto traffic in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, past a billboard proclaiming: “Pray for God’s Mercy for Our Nation.”

The billboard featured a large image of a wide-brimmed straw hat often worn by the Amish. If there was any further doubt as to its target audience, the smaller print listed the sponsor as “Fer Die Amische” — referring to the Amish in their Pennsylvania German dialect.

Researchers say most of the Amish don’t register to vote, reflective of the Christian movement’s historic separatism from mainstream society, just as they’ve maintained their dialect and horse-and-buggy transportation. But a small minority have voted, and the Amish are most numerous in the all-important swing state of Pennsylvania. So they’re being targeted this year in the latest of decades of efforts to register more of them to vote.

Republicans are seeking their votes through billboards, ads, door-to-door canvassing and community meetings. Republican campaigners see the Amish as receptive to GOP talking points — smaller government, less regulation, religious freedom.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-amish-voters-church-state-election-republican-02879042c8ee425c345daa971ecd341e

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A handful who did participate (most don't) in 2016 got fooled once. I doubt that many will get fooled again. They have seen what an abomination 45 has been.

[Ontheboundry]

1. So I live near an Amish community

That I frequent for their fresh vege.and the Amish manager was telling an old man that there was over 200k Amish now registered in pa

First, I have no idea how many yoders live there, or how he would even know, but he firmly believes what he was saying

[BumRushDaShow]

8. "the Amish manager was telling an old man that there was over 200k Amish now registered in pa"

There are only about 93,000 Amish TOTAL living here in PA so right there, that was a load of bullshit. The total population across the states where they are is less than about 400,000.

[Ontheboundry]

10. Thanks.

I wasn't sure what the totalmpop was there

[BumRushDaShow]

12. We've got quite a few here and many of them or the Mennonites

will travel here to Philly to sell stuff at Reading Terminal - https://www.visitphilly.com/things-to-do/food-drink/reading-terminal-market/#why-visit

https://readingterminalmarket.org/merchant/dutch-eating-place/

[Bayard]

2. We have a major Amish population here

I don't know how they'd even prove citizenship. They don't have driver's licenses, electric bills, and usually not mortgages. Tax records maybe?

The older Amish man who does a lot of work for us around here really hates trump though. They do still get newspapers.

[mwooldri]

4. I don't think PA is a state that requires picture ID to vote

But IIRC some Amish will not have their photograph taken. 2nd of the 10 Commandments, no graven images ....

How would this work in states where picture ID is required?

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Oh they TRIED to do it

under the last GOP governor (Tom Corbett) but that was thrown out. There are Muslims here who also refuse to have a photo taken.

Those whose religions forbid it can be granted an exemption (the below is associated with the driver's license and the same applies to a "non-driver" driver's license/ID) - https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?file=/secure/pacode/data/067/chapter73/chap73toc.html&d=

(4) The Department may also allow a person to apply for a valid-without-photo driver’s license in lieu of a photographic driver’s license upon certification that having a photograph taken would violate the tenets of the holder’s religion or religious beliefs.

[FakeNoose]

13. Many Amish babies are birthed at home, I wonder how they get a birth certificate?

They are US citizens, and some even get drivers' licenses. (A few of the younger males.) But I don't know how they get a standard birth certificate unless the hospitals provide them.

An old friend of mine lives in Lancaster County, and used to be a driver for the Amish. The Amish businessmen own vehicles for transporting their workers to jobsites, but many of the older Amish never learned to drive. It's considered against their religion. The younger men aren't so conservative, many have smartphones and surf the internet on them, learn to drive, etc.

[mucholderthandirt]

16. Back in the day, my mother and her siblings were born at home. The doctor wrote up all the info.

He sent it in to the county and a birth certificate was then issued to my grandparents. I suspect this will work for the Amish or other people who have home births. Just need a recognized person to do the paperwork.

Here in NC we can get a voter ID card, which may or may not have a photo. I know when I voted the other week, the poll worker did a thorough check to make sure my mother and I matched our ID pictures. I'd never had that happen before, it was almost like I was being checked to make sure I was old enough to drink.

[Bayard]

15. Apparently, you can obtain a, "Record of Live Birth,"

Mr. Bayard informed me that's actually what he has. The hospital where he was born closed down about a year later.

[Texin]

3. I would imagine the average Amish citizen would recoil from rethuglican rhetoric and TSF's vow to

punish his so-called "enemies from within." His talk of deportation and threats far and wide surely couldn't land well with this group, who are historically pacifist and won't join the military or fight in wars.

[lees1975]

5. I lived near the Amish community of Volant, PA for 8 years.

There are about 90,000 Amish in the state of Pennsylvania, out of about 390,000 in the US. They came in the general store in the small, rural community where I lived all the time, usually to eat at the lunch counter, and sometimes they'd engage in conversation. We bought a lot of fruit and vegetables from the Stoltzfus family, who were just up the road. I always though it was kind of funny, his fruit stand was a small building to the front and side of his house, close to the road, equipped with freezers and refrigerators, and electric lights and a cash register. But the house was not wired and did not have plumbing inside. He was not a Trump supporter by any means, and I don't think he was registered to vote. I never saw any of the local Amish at the polling precinct.

[ellemb]

6. We have a Mennonite family down the road from us and they have Trump signs in their yard.

[wiggs]

9. I would think Amish, like Mormons, can recognize a shyster when

they see one. generally

[Ontheboundry]

11. Not sure how amsih roll

But Mormons will vote for trump overwhelmingly

Look at Utah vote % for confirmation

[twodogsbarking]

14. Do they allow "their" women to vote? The Amish I mean. They will fit right in with the Repubs.