You’ve probably seen the photos. A horse-drawn buggy pulling up to a quiet polling station in rural Pennsylvania, or a group of men in suspenders and straw hats standing in line behind people in Patagonia jackets. It’s a striking image. It’s also one that fuels a massive amount of speculation every four years. People want to know: do the Amish vote in elections, or is their "separation from the world" absolute?
Honestly, the answer is a messy "sometimes."
If you’re looking for a simple yes or no, you won't find it in Lancaster County or Holmes County. The Amish are not a monolith. They don't have a central "pope" telling them how to fill out a ballot. Instead, their participation in American democracy is a tug-of-war between two-hundred-year-old theology and the very modern reality of government regulation.
The Two-Kingdom Theology Problem
To understand why your average Amish farmer might skip the booth, you have to understand "Gelassenheit." It’s a German word that basically means "submission." For the Amish, this means submitting to God’s will and staying out of "the world."
They believe in a "Two-Kingdom" concept. There’s the Kingdom of God (the church) and the Kingdom of Man (the state). Since their ultimate loyalty is to the former, getting too cozy with the latter—like voting for a Commander-in-Chief—feels like a betrayal to many.
Why many stay home
- Nonresistance: The Amish are pacifists. If they vote for a president, they are technically voting for a man who commands the military. That’s a huge moral hurdle.
- Humility vs. Pride: Politics is loud. It’s boastful. It’s everything the Amish try to avoid. To them, the political circus looks a lot like "Hochmut," or pride.
- God’s Sovereignty: A common saying in these communities is that God ordains leaders. If God is going to pick the winner anyway, why mess with a ballot?
The 2024 Surge: Fact or Fiction?
During the 2024 election cycle, social media was on fire with claims that the Amish were "turning out in droves" for Donald Trump. You might have heard rumors of 180,000 new Amish voters in Pennsylvania alone.
Let's look at the actual numbers.
Steven Nolt, a scholar at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, has been tracking this for years. He’s the guy who actually cross-references voter rolls with church directories. It’s painstaking work. According to Nolt’s research, only about 3,000 Amish people in Lancaster County voted in 2020.
In 2024, that number definitely went up, but it wasn't a "blue-wave" or "red-wave" of buggies. While activists like Scott Presler spent months on the ground trying to register "Plain People," the reality is that there are only about 92,000 Amish people in all of Pennsylvania. Half of them are children. Even if every single adult voted—which they don't—the "180,000" figure was mathematically impossible.
💡 You might also like: Ed and Brian Krassenstein: Why the Internet’s Most Famous Twins Are Still Everywhere
The Amos Miller Factor
What actually changed things in 2024 wasn't just campaign ads. It was a raid.
Specifically, the state's crackdown on Amos Miller, an Amish farmer who sold raw milk. When government officials showed up to seize products and investigate E. coli cases, it sent a shockwave through the community.
To the Amish, this wasn't about food safety; it was about the government reaching into their barn. Nothing gets a quiet farmer to the polls faster than the feeling that "the world" is trying to shut down his livelihood.
Where They Do Vote (and Who They Pick)
When the Amish do vote, they are overwhelmingly Republican. It’s not even close.
This isn't because they love the lifestyle of a billionaire from New York. It’s about shared values. They like the GOP's stance on religious freedom, school choice (remember Wisconsin v. Yoder?), and deregulation. If you’re a small business owner making handmade furniture, you want fewer inspectors and lower taxes.
A breakdown of participation by state:
- Pennsylvania: Home to the most active "political" Amish, largely due to intense outreach and the proximity of the Lancaster settlements to major hubs.
- Ohio: Participation is lower here, but the Holmes County community has seen small upticks in local election interest.
- Indiana: Generally very quiet. The "Two-Kingdom" wall remains high in places like LaGrange County.
It’s also worth noting that they are much more likely to vote in local elections. School board decisions or township zoning laws affect their daily lives way more than who sits in the Oval Office. They care about who is going to pave the road their buggies use or how land-use laws will affect their sons' ability to start a farm.
Can Outreach Actually Work?
Political campaigns have tried everything. Billboards on buggy routes. Mail-in ballot education (though many Amish are suspicious of mail-in voting). Even campaign stops near Amish markets.
👉 See also: Why Congress Blocked From Department of Education Access is Changing the FAFSA Narrative
But there’s a cultural barrier that’s hard to bridge.
Representative Lloyd Smucker, who actually has Amish roots himself, has noted that the community is becoming more engaged as it shifts from farming to small business. If you own a shop, you need a phone (even if it’s in a shack outside). If you have a phone, you hear the news. If you hear the news, you might just get angry enough to vote.
Still, the church elders often have the final word. In some stricter "Old Order" districts, voting is still seen as a "shunnable" offense if it leads to public discord. It’s a quiet, private act. An Amish person who votes usually won't brag about it at the Sunday meal.
What This Means for the Future
Don't expect the Amish to become a massive swing-voting bloc overnight. Their growth is explosive—they are one of the fastest-growing populations in America—but their political "DNA" is rooted in staying invisible.
If you're watching the news and see a headline about the "Amish Vote" deciding the next election, take it with a grain of salt. It’s a slow-moving change. It’s a few hundred more voters here, a thousand there. In a tight race in a swing state, that could matter, but it's rarely the earthquake the pundits claim it is.
Actionable Insights for Observing Amish Voting Trends:
- Check the Data: Don't trust viral tweets about registration numbers. Look for reports from Elizabethtown College or the Young Center; they are the gold standard for Plain People research.
- Local vs. National: If you see Amish at the polls, look at what’s on the local ballot. A controversial land-use measure is a much bigger draw for them than a presidential debate.
- Watch the Small Businesses: As the Amish move away from traditional dairy farming and into carpentry, retail, and manufacturing, their interest in government regulation (and thus voting) will likely continue to climb.
- Respect the Privacy: If you’re ever in a community like Lancaster during an election, remember that for these folks, voting is a deeply personal and often spiritually conflicted choice.
The real story of the Amish and the ballot box isn't about a secret political machine. It's about a group of people trying to figure out how to live in a 21st-century country while keeping their hearts in the 18th century. Sometimes, that means picking up a pen and marking a box. Most of the time, it means staying home and praying for the country instead.