Centre County Changes Several Polling Places After First Phase of Accessibility Audit

Polling places for six precincts in Centre County will move to different locations for the Nov. 3 election following the completion of the first phase of an accessibility compliance audit.

Counties are required to survey voting locations to ensure they comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards. In October 2025, the Board of Commissioners approved a contract ultimately totaling $10,500 with Dan Willis Architecture to perform the first phase of audits at 15 of Centre County’s dozens of polling places.

“The federal accessibility and disability requirements are different than the state accessibility and disability requirements,” Commissioner Mark Higgins said on Tuesday. “Obviously, you’re building buildings, maintaining parking lots, et cetera, to the state standards because that’s what controls the local zoning.”

As a result of the first phase audits, the Board of Elections on Sept. 10 approved the following changes for polling places:

• Precinct 5 (Bellefonte West) moves from Bellefonte Presbyterian Church to Lambert Hall, 303 Forge Road, Bellefonte
• Precinct 20 (State College South 2) moves from State College Assembly of God to Foxdale Village Retirement Community 500 E. Marylyn Ave., State College
• Precinct 66 (Patton South 1) moves from Park Forest Village United Methodist Church to Oakwood Presbyterian Church 1865 Waddle Road, State College
• Precinct 80 (Spring West) moves from Election House to Centre County Bar Association, 192 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte
• Precinct 89 (Ferguson West Central) moves from Video Labs to Penn State Technology Support Building, 300 Science Park Road, State College
• Precinct 91(Ferguson North Central) moves from Steppingstones Community Church to Centre Region Council of Governments, 2643 Gateway Drive, State College

County officials determined that polling places were moved to ensure compliance without adding more pressure to previous locations to meet stricter federal standards.

“For instance, a small local church who hosts voters on election day is built to state ADA regulations, but polling places are audited according to the stricter federal ADA regulations,” the county wrote in a news release. “The small church may not meet federal regulations, and being outfitted to do so can be costly and time intensive.”

Commissioners on Tuesday moved forward a phase two contract not to exceed $15,000 for Dan Willis Architecture to continue the compliance audits.

The Centre County Office of Elections will issue notices if future audits result in further voting location changes.

“This is one of those things we’re going at piece by piece, because reviewing up to 87 different locations for slightly different accessibility requirements is a lot of work,” Higgins said. “It takes quite a bit of time.”

Added Commissioner Amber Concepcion, “It’s important that our polling places are accessible to all voters, and we’re working through that process.”