Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of their fathers; but we believe that thou hast elected us to be thy holy children; and also thou hast made it known unto us that there shall be no Christ.The verb means to choose which is more common in the Book of Mormon. Its usage in this particular passage would seem to mean that it was used for the Zoramites for a particular meaning. The verb to choose has a Germanic etymology, while the verb to elect comes from Latin. Latin words tend to have a higher register in English than Germanic ones. The use of a higher register comes across as more elitist than using the verb to choose thus reinforcing the snobbery of the Zoramites.
But thou art the same yesterday, today, and forever; and thou hast elected us that we shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell; for the which holiness, O God, we thank thee; and we also thank thee that thou hast elected us, that we may not be led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth bind them down to a belief of Christ, which doth lead their hearts to wander far from thee, our God.(Alma 31:16–17)
The Zoramites view themselves as elitist because they have been chosen to know "that there shall be no Christ" as opposed to the unwashed masses who are "led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth bind them down to a belief of Christ." As a result, the Zoramites believed that they were chosen "that we shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell."
Interestingly enough, the Zoramites, who were elitist, apparently showed no interest in missionary work.