Basement democracy: Residents open homes as polling places in Westmoreland County

Democracy happens in Betty Tokarcik’s Wyano basement.

Voting rights have been exercised in Kathleen Slomiany’s living room in Van Meter.

The two women, who live about 8 miles apart in southwestern Westmoreland County, have opened the doors of their homes twice a year for decades to the voters in their communities. They both enjoy providing a convenient, walkable spot for their neighbors to cast votes while catching up with friends in town.

“I only need to come down my basement stairs to report to my job,” Tokarcik said.

Presidential elections are normally the busiest time for them, but this year might be a little different, they agreed. With a large number of voters opting to use mail-in ballots this year, Tokarcik and Slomiany said they weren’t sure how many people would hit the polls at their homes on Tuesday.

Regardless of the number of in-person voters, the homemade food and familiarity will still be there.

“It’s nice to have it at the home because we’re comfortable,” Slomiany said.

Wyano

Voters in the tiny South Huntingdon village not far from Interstate 70 have been casting their ballots in Tokarcik’s basement since before her family even called it home. Decades ago, the community’s polling place bounced from a one-room schoolhouse to an old gas station that didn’t have bathrooms, water or heat.

The conditions were unacceptable to Tokarcik, whose mother, Mary Bogley, worked as minority inspector. When Tokarcik drove the judge of elections to the Greensburg courthouse to drop off the results in the 1960s, she offered the use of the foundation to the Third Street home her husband Joe, a carpenter, was in the process of building.

“She was overjoyed,” Tokarcik, 85, remembered. “That was 57 years ago.”

As the house was completed over the next few years and the Tokarciks moved in from a relative’s home next door, the polling place stayed in the ground-level finished basement. The space where the family in years past celebrated Christmas with a tree and gifts next to the fireplace is taken over by voting equipment and tables, ready for Election Day.

A large window with blinds and a bench lets light in to the small, wood paneled room. A couch and paintings on the walls are accompanied by fall decor and a red, white and blue wreath hangs in the window.

The Vote Here sign along the road is the only hint that something important is taking place at the house. There are 312 registered voters in the Wyano precinct, according to county election officials.

After Tokarcik’s mother retired about 30 years ago, she became involved and now works as majority inspector. Kathy Smartnick, one of Tokarcik’s four daughters, recalled the basement being off-limits when it came to the primary and general election days.

“I remember, when we were little, we were never allowed near the place,” she said. “Not even outside.”

Van Meter

Like Tokarcik, 54-year-old Slomiany inherited her poll work from her mother. Van Meter’s polling place is in her childhood home, a Riverside Drive duplex where she and her siblings, Stanley and Debbie, live.

Voters in the small Rostraver village along the Youghiogheny River have cast their ballots there since around the late 1980s, Slomiany said. Their mother offered up the home then and Slomiany took over judge of election duties about 20 years ago. It remains a family affair — her sister works the polls and Stanley Slomiany drives the results to the courthouse at the end of the night.

“We like doing it. We enjoy doing it,” she said. “It’s easy for the town to come to us.”

The living room gets rearranged to make space for tables and voting machines. But the comfortable seats remain close by for Slomiany and the poll workers, who start before voting begins at 7 a.m. and don’t stop until the results are taped on the door and hand-delivered to the courthouse in Greensburg after polls close at 8 p.m. There are 85 registered voters in the Van Meter precinct.

The majority of Westmoreland County’s 300 polling places are at churches, fire departments, schools or municipal buildings. The state election code encourages county election boards to use public buildings as polling places but does allow for private residences to be tapped if board members determine they are accessible and free of voter intimidation.

Under state law, polling places cannot be in locations where alcohol is dispensed.

For Rochelle Silvis, a lifelong resident of Wyano, voting in Tokarcik’s basement is the norm. She remembers walking there with her mother as a young girl and waiting outside. Silvis said she plans to vote in person Tuesday.

“I don’t know anything different,” she said. “To me, it’s not a basement.”

But not everyone agrees that a polling place should be in a private residence. Dave Clark of Wyano said there are other spots in the area that would be better suited. He also plans to cast his ballot in person.

“In my opinion, it should be in a public place,” he said.

But for now, neither Tokarcik nor Slomiany plan to stop opening their doors to their communities semiannually.

“She likes doing it. It gives her a reason to clean,” Smartnick said of her mother.