Thousands of PA Amish Register to Vote – The October Surprise?

Here in Lancaster County, PA, there is a treasure trove of potential voters just waiting to be plucked. There are over 90,000 Amish in Pennsylvania. With the largest conclave of the Amish in one place, Lancaster, Trump managed to find his way there early this week and with it came the realization that this time, the first time for many, the Amish were in for the action. Trump’s man on the ground is Scott Presler and he is looking for votes.

Why you might ask?

Bunkerville’s first post came back in 2010  EPA goes after Amish Farmers

“They are very resistant to government interference, and they object to government subsidies,” said Donald Kraybill, a professor at Elizabethtown College who studies the Amish. “They feel they should take care of their own.” How strange how unusual.

But farmers like Mr. Stoltzfus are facing growing scrutiny for agricultural practices that the federal government sees as environmentally destructive.

There’s much, much work that needs to be done, and I don’t think the full community understands,” said David McGuigan, the E.P.A. official leading an effort by the agency to change farming practices here in Lancaster County.

and things are not getting any better.

AMISH FARMER RAIDED (again) 2024 | Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture v Amos Miller Organic Farm

Which brings us to this:

The Deseret News picks up the story:

Scott Presler, the founder of Early Vote Action, winning Pennsylvania for Donald Trump is a matter of back-of-the-napkin math.

“I’m a data guy,” the founder of Early Vote Action, a conservative PAC, told me. Trump lost the state in 2020 by just 80,660 votes, a margin of 1%. To win this November, Presler needed to find a demographic group that size or bigger that he could swing toward Trump. How about the state’s 80,000 truckers? “That’s the election,” Presler said. The same could be said for the state’s 930,000 hunters, or 800,000 veterans.

Presler found the Amish.

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 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.

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Pennsylvania is one of the key states in bringing home an election win for Trump. Should a squeaker of an election ultimately be decided by this religious group, indeed it will be providential.