Centre County’s election day unfolds without a hitch
BELLEFONTE – More voters than usual cast their ballots throughout Centre County in Tuesday’s general election.
There were 44, 117 ballots cast – including mail-in ballots received by 8 p.m. – about 43 percent of 102,007 registered voters. That figure is an increase from the last municipal election held in 2023, when 39 percent of voters cast their ballots.
Patricia Stephens, a member of Centre County Democrats who was stationed at Precinct 50 in Ferguson Township, reported that voter traffic in and out of The Rivet “was steady” throughout the day. She said voter 186 exited the polling site shortly before 4 p.m.
According to Centre County Government Spokesman J J De La Cruz, there were no issues reported at any of the county’s polling locations.
“This was the first election where Poll Pads were deployed to all precincts and the first election to be run from the Community Services Building, and the election ran smoothly,” De La Cruz said in a statement.
He said all precincts had reported back to the county by 10:20 p.m.
This year, there were 14,123 mail-in ballots issued, and 11,998 were returned as of 7 p.m., De La Cruz said.
Centre County Commissioner Chairman Mark Higgins reported at Tuesday’s commissioner’s meeting that everything was running smoothly for the Centre County Elections Office.
Higgins stated that he visited the mail-in ballot center that is now located in the community services building. He said he received many compliments from the volunteers enjoying the new space.
He added that volunteers were “enjoying the fact that once we set up the new equipment up and fine tune it, it doesn’t get moved. In the past, the equipment would have to be shrink-wrapped, moved, then remove the shrink wrap, generally at the Penn Stater. That would sometimes cause issues because it would be difficult to get the equipment fine-tuned again in the short time you would need to start processing ballots.”
ELECTION RESULTS
The majority of contested races were in elections of municipal leaders and school board directors.
Philipsburg Borough Council
Faith Maguire, Jerry Lese, Chyvonne Rhoads and John Walker edged out Harry Wood for four available seats.
Centre Hall Borough Council
Matthew Roan, Daniel Smith and Kathryn Long earned three available spots over Rosalie Yearick Owens.
Milesburg Borough Council
Lesa Weaver, Barry Campbell Jr., and Lauren E. Davison-Haupt were chosen over Catlin Horn.
In the two-year term, there were five candidates with three slots available. Lesa Weaver, Catlin Horn and Timothy Glenn edged out Shirley Martin and J. Bryce Taylor.
College Township Council
Gretchen Brandt and L. Eric Bernier were chosen over Steven Lyncha.
Bellefonte Borough Council
In the First Ward, Claudia Wilson and Jon Eaton earned two available chairs against Rita Purnell and Kimberly Shenk. In the Second Ward, Barbara Dann was uncontested along with Third Ward candidates Shawna McKean and Zach Kelly.
Ferguson Township Supervisor
There were three candidates, with Omari Patterson and Trevor White winning over David Wolfgang.
Halfmoon Township Supervisor
Lorin Nauman and Bruce Helms were chosen over David Piper and Donnan Stoicovy.
Gregg Township Supervisor
Voters chose Charles Bierlein over Scott Decker for one available spot.
Haines Township Supervisor
Randy Ream edged out Bob Vernon for a supervisor position.
Spring Township Supervisor
Korena Defurio defeated Frank Royer in the race for one position.
Walker Township Supervisor
Voters chose James Heckman over Wyatt Harter to lead the township.
Bellefonte School District
There were four candidates for four available spots, with Joe Yech, Kristin Lyons, Nate Campbell and Jon Guzar coming out on top over a write-in candidate who earned 2,642 votes.
State College School District
Voters chose Jackie Huff, Rebecca Arnold Desmarais, Deborah Anderson and Jesse Barlow to lead the district over Kirsten McTernan and Mihaly Sogor.
Penns Valley School District
Daniel Decker and Douglas Roth were chosen as directors at Penns Valley over Kendyl Wittenrich Paolini in the At-Large election. In Region 3, Jessica Shawver edged out Amber May.
