Record voter turnout surges in Centre County. Check out the map and see precinct data
Despite a bomb threat on Election Day and software issues after polls closed, Centre County voters turned out in record-breaking fashion for the second straight general election Tuesday.
Centre County voters combined to cast a record-high 80,324 ballots during this year’s election cycle, according to unofficial data posted Wednesday on the county’s website. The number of ballots cast already exceeds the previous record of 78,094 ballots cast in 2020, while this year’s turnout rate (73.1%) is the highest for a general election in Centre County since 2004.
Though some ballots — including provisional ballots and those coming from overseas — still need to be counted, Centre County estimates the bulk of its count is more or less complete after technical errors required the rescanning of 13,401 mail-in ballots Wednesday.
The addition of those previously uncounted ballots helped flip Centre County in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris, who leads by nearly 1,700 votes. That margin falls well short of President Joe Biden, who in 2020 beat President-elect Donald Trump by nearly 3,700 votes in Centre County en route to winning Pennsylvania and claiming the presidency. Harris appears to have won 41 of the county’s 91 precincts, all of which came in State College and Bellefonte, while the remaining 50 precincts in more rural areas broke for Trump.
This time around, Centre County voted in contrast with Pennsylvania as a whole. The commonwealth and its 19 electoral votes are all but certain to break in favor of Trump, who leads by around 133,000 votes with roughly 98% of votes counted as of Thursday morning, according to the Associated Press.
Here’s a closer look at the overall turnout in Centre County.
What did this election’s turnout look like in Centre County?
Although Centre County produced a record number of ballots cast and its highest turnout rate in 20 years, not every precinct observed the same success this election cycle.
Fifty-four of Centre County’s 91 precincts observed turnout rates of at least 80% this year, according to unofficial results as of Wednesday evening, though 15 of those precincts are home to no more than 600 registered voters. Only five precincts — all of which are in State College — turned out less than half of their registered voters.
Here’s a look at some of the notable county turnouts and vote counts by precinct:
- Precinct 40 (Burnside Township) showed the most support for Trump, according to its percentage of votes that went to the Republican candidate for president. Here, roughly 86.6% of voters picked Trump out of the 269 ballots cast. That mark in favor of Trump is more than 5.5 percentage points higher than any other precinct in the county.
- Conversely, Precinct 19 (State College North) produced the largest share of support for Harris. About 79.9% of this precinct’s voters picked the vice president out of 617 ballots cast. Precinct 17 (State College Northeast) follows closely behind with a 79.4% share in favor of Harris.
- Precinct 82 (Union Township) saw the biggest disparity of votes favoring Trump over Harris. Voters at this precinct combined to cast 764 votes for the Republican, while Harris received 165 and Libertarian Chase Oliver and Green Party nominee Jill Stein received five votes. That 599-vote margin for Trump over Harris leads all county precincts, according to unofficial results.
- Precinct 24 (State College East 1 — PSU) produced the largest disparity of votes favoring Harris over Trump. Here, 1,416 more voters were cast for Harris over Trump, while Oliver received 16 votes and Stein received 15. That margin for Harris over Trump more than doubles the next-closest precinct, Precinct 68 (Patton South 3), which recorded 702 more votes for Harris over Trump.
- Precinct 40 (Burnside Township) also registered the highest voter turnout rate of any Centre County precinct this election. Nearly 89.4% of its 301 registered voters cast a ballot.
- Precinct 30 (State College East Central 3) logged the worst turnout rate of any county precinct. Just 39% of the precinct’s 920 registered voters turned out to vote this cycle.
- Precinct 24 (State College East 1 — PSU) turned out to vote at a significantly higher rate than in 2020 when just 24.4% of its 9,469 registered voters cast a ballot. The precinct’s turnout rate more than doubled this time around, as approximately 51.9% of 7,654 registered voters turned out during the election cycle. Back in 2020, Centre County Democratic Committee officials suggested the precinct’s number of registered voters may stay inflated if Penn State students move away after graduating and don’t register to vote in another Pennsylvania community, leaving them on county rolls for years until they are considered inactive and removed.
Under the federal Electoral Count Reform Act passed in 2022, all states must certify their presidential electoral votes by Wednesday, Dec. 11, roughly five weeks after Election Day. Pennsylvania is scheduled to have its votes certified by Friday, Nov. 25.
Electoral College electors are scheduled to formally vote by Tuesday, Dec. 17. Electoral results are formally counted Monday, Jan. 6 before Inauguration Day arrives Monday, Jan. 20.
This story was originally published November 7, 2024 at 11:05 AM.
%202.JPG)