Scott Buckley standing outside his garage in Gates Manor. Photo credit: Ty Polk, Point Park News Service.
7:45 p.m. Voters Reflect on Voting Experiences
“I get to see the neighbors, I know all the neighbors after doing it for 19 years, you get to know the neighbors a little better”, says Scott Buckley.
He has a lot of neighbors, 300 to 400 of them to be exact because he runs election polling out of his home on 4647 Homeridge Drive.
“I love voting here because it’s down the street from my house,” says Wendi Rogers of Gates Manor. “It’s confortable and it’s easy.
“The reason the City of Pittsburgh chose us because we are in the middle of the neighborhood, and the access to our home, no one has to go up any steps,” says Buckley, who is the Judge of Elections.
A single Clinton/Kaine sign in a sea of Trump/Pence signs at Scott Buckley’s home in Gates Manor. Photo credit: Ty Polk, Point Park News Service
Their home is in what the city calls the 31st Ward, 2nd District. It is considered a part of Downtown Pittsburgh, and shares the area code of Munhall. The neighborhood has a history of running election results out of their homes.
“I bought my house from my Mom, and when I was a kid this is where they voted,” says Buckley.
“The house next door to me [ran polls out of their house], then it went across the street,” says Christine DeMatteo, 77, of Lincoln Place. “A couple other houses, and it finally it ended up here”.
It’s a lot of work towards running a poll center out of your house costs 60 dollars and requires an early start to accommodate the people who come through.
“You have to get up at five in the morning and work until the polls close,” says Buckley. “The polls are tallied automatically; the only pressure is trying to be the first person to take the results to CCAC South”.