Voting in Tuesday's Primary Elections? Check out the New Congressional, State House, and State Senate Districts for Ferguson Township

Ferguson Township voters will head to the polls on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 to vote in the Republican and Democratic Primary Elections to decide who they want to head to Harrisburg and Washington D.C. to represent them and Ferguson Township.

However, new names and faces will be on the ballot for voters in the Township, as Pennsylvania, resulting from the 2020 Decennial U.S. Census Data and redistricting process that occurs every 10 years, has created new Congressional, State Senate, and State House district lines for Ferguson Township and the Centre Region. Redistricting occurs every 10 years once U.S. Census Data is available for every state to appropriately allocate districts by proportional population size.

Congressional Districts Update

Under the previous 2020 Congressional District lines, Centre County was represented by Fred Keller (R), CD-12 in the Southern and Eastern half of Centre County, and Glenn "G.T." Thompson (R), CD-15 in the Northern and Western half of Centre County. During redistricting, Pennsylvania lost a Congressional seat due to population reapportionments in the House of Representatives, and Congressman Keller's seat was the seat that was eliminated by morphing into the new Congressional District 15.

The new district includes all of Centre County, Clearfield County, Elk County, Snyder County, Union County, Clinton County, Cameron County, Tioga County, Potter County, McKean County, Warren County, Jefferson County, Clarion County, Armstrong County, and Forest County -- along with parts of Lycoming and Venango Counties.

Fred Keller has chosen not to seek election to the newly combined Congressional seat, and Congressman Glenn "G.T." Thompson is running for the newly comprised district. 

State Senate Districts Update

Along with Congressional maps, State House and Senate maps were also redrawn. Since 2012, Centre County and Ferguson Township were represented in the State Senate by Jake Corman (R), Senate District 34. The district encompassed all of Centre County, Juniata County, Mifflin County, and part of Huntingdon County.

Senator Corman is currently running for Pennsylvania Governor in the Republican Primary, and has indicated he will not seek re-election to his State Senate seat and his President Pro Tempore position in the Pennsylvania State Senate.

Under new lines, Centre County is now split into two separate Senate districts, SD-35 & SD-25, as shown below. Ferguson Township falls under Senate District 35, which is a seat that is not up for election in 2022, but will be in 2024. Ferguson Township will be represented by Senator Wayne Langerholc Jr (R) of Clearfield County from 2022 until 2024. He will be up for re-election to the new district in 2024.

State House Districts Update

Ferguson Township is now part of Pennsylvania House District 77. Previously, Centre County was split into 4 separate PA House Districts, and Ferguson Township itself was split into 2 of these districts with Kerry Benninghoff (R), HD-171 and Richard Irvin (R), HD-81. Centre County will now be split between 3 districts, (HD-77, HD-82, and HD-171).

The current boundaries of HD-77 fall under Scott Conklin's (D) current district. Rep. Scott Conklin is currently running for the new district, with boundaries that include Ferguson Township, Halfmoon Township, Patton Township, Huston Township, Worth Township, Taylor Township, and Rush Township -- along with part of the Borough of State College. Steve Yetsko (R) of Huston Township, is also running for this seat in the Republican Primary election.

Election Information for Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Now that you've seen the new district lines and candidates, take a look at the sample ballots for the upcoming Primary Elections occurring on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 below at the bottom of the page. Democratic and Republican ballots are shown below for Ferguson Township voters.

As a reminder, Ferguson Township has been designated as a polling location for the upcoming Tuesday, May 17, 2022 Primary Election. The Township Municipal Building will serve voters in Ferguson Township from 7:00am to 8:00pm on that date.

The Centre County Board of Elections website provides information on how to check your voter registration status, find your polling location, and directions for how to return your vote-by-mail ballot.

Some important dates to be aware of before the election are:

May 2: Last day to register to vote before the primary

May 10: Last day to apply for a mail-in or civilian absentee ballot

May 17: Last day for County Boards of Elections to receive voted mail-in and civilian
absentee ballots (must be received by 8:00 PM)

For more information, visit: https://centrecountyvotes.gov/faq/