Indiana state Rep. Joanna King grew up in an Amish family that believed voting went against their faith-based conviction that members should stay separate from the world.
“They really feel like their influence needs to be praying for the people that are elected … but still really having that complete separation of church and state,” said King, whose family left the Amish faith when she was in third grade.
But that long-standing belief is fading among some Indiana Amish — and it could open up an untapped block of conservative voters.
More than 68,000 Amish live in Indiana — the third highest in the nation after Pennsylvania and Ohio, according to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College.
The largest communities are in LaGrange and Elkhart counties, where around 25,500 Amish live. In LaGrange County, nearly half of the 41,000 residents there are Amish.
“I always tell them, ‘If you guys ever decided to vote, you’d run this county,’” LaGrange County Commissioner Terry Martin said. “And if they told their people to get out and vote, they’d get out and vote.”
A wake up call
Before 2020, hardly any Amish people would ever have considered casting a ballot, according to King.
That changed during the COVID pandemic when then-Gov. Eric Holcomb briefly banned religious gatherings to stop the spread of the disease — a move that drew fierce pushback from some Hoosier congregations.
“That woke up a lot of the Amish people,” King said. “I had people calling me saying, ‘Can the government really do that? Can the government restrict us from meeting?’”
Most Amish bishops, who have the authority to permit or ban members in their congregations from voting, have not allowed the practice. Since COVID, however, some are softening their stance and allowing members to make up their own minds, King said.
“They don’t come out and say ‘Don’t vote’ like they used to … and I think that’s a good first step forward,” she said. “But every church is going to be different.”
Elkhart County Commissioner Brad Rogers said COVID restrictions led to some of the first Amish people voting in the county. Six years later, he estimates that, in some districts, around 10% vote. Those who do likely use mail-in ballots to avoid being seen at the polls, Rogers said.
‘The Amish may very well save America!’
King and Rogers, who are both Republicans, are now trying to convince more Amish in their region to vote. The two said they are visiting with bishops to explain why they should tell their members to vote, and also helping register those who are interested.
King, whose district encompasses Goshen and Middlebury in Elkhart County, understands why Amish people wouldn’t want to vote. After her family left the faith, her parents continued not to vote. It wasn’t until King was married and started getting involved in her community that she saw its importance.
“I realized that I’m really giving my voice away by not voting, so I’ve been voting my whole adult life,” she said.
Although the campaign will likely win them new conservative voters, Rogers said, the goal is to convince Amish people that voting is the best way to ensure the government stays out of their lives. Nearly all elected offices in Elkhart and LaGrange counties are held by Republicans.
“I’ve always said to them, ‘You’re one generation away from voting in the wrong people that could take away your freedoms,’” he said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s Republican or Democrat. I’m just saying, you have to pick your candidate.”
That’s the message Republicans used to convince Amish to vote in the swing state of Pennsylvania in the 2024 election, when President Donald Trump beat Democrat Kamala Harris.
After Trump narrowly won the state, billionaire Elon Musk posted on X that “The Amish may very well save America! Thank goodness for them. And let’s keep the government out of their lives.”
‘We’re making headway’
But convincing a larger majority of Amish to vote in Indiana still poses a difficult challenge, King said.
The state representative speaks Pennsylvania Dutch, the language Amish use in their own communities. King said that helps break down many cultural barriers, but many bishops don’t take her seriously since she’s a woman and the Amish faith is patriarchal.
“Having a woman come and say, ‘This is what we need to do’ probably is not the best step forward,” she said. “But having Brad (Rogers) there with me has been very helpful.”
Martin, the LaGrange County commissioner, said Amish serve on his county’s planning and zoning boards to have a say in how their land can be used, but he’s given up on trying to convince them to take the next step and cast a ballot.
“Nobody is ever going to pressure them to do that,” Martin said. “If they want to do it, they’re going to do it. But you go out and start pressuring them, and I think it’ll backfire on you. I really do.”
That isn’t stopping King and Rogers from trying.
Rogers said Amish people are their friends and neighbors who live and work in their community. He wants to ensure they exercise their rights and have a say in which elected officials will represent them and defend their religious freedom.
“You still have those who dig their heels in, but I think, little by little, we’re making headway,” Rogers said. “I mean, we’ve gone from probably zero voting to 10%. That’s significant.”
FPI News, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations. Sign up for our free newsletter.
FPI News reporter Carson Gerber covers healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, immigration … and just about any other topic that’s shaping how we live in Indiana today. Reach him at 765-204-4250 or carson.gerber@fpinews.org.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
