On almost every Election Day for nearly 60 years, Aurelia Bozzo
has woken up at 6 a.m., gone to the polls and begun to set up for a
long day.
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On almost every Election Day for nearly 60 years, Aurelia Bozzo has woken up at 6 a.m., gone to the polls and begun to set up for a long day.
But of course, it’s a long day that she loves.
Bozzo, 95, spent all those days watching the ballot box, making sure it was untainted. For all those years, Election Day was a day she always looked forward to. But this year, Bozzo will retire and say goodbye to her ballot box.
“I’m 95 going on 96,” she said. “It seems like if I keep going it would be a little more difficult.”
Bozzo’s Election Day passion started in the 1950s when, while living eight miles outside of Hollister, she decided she wanted to become more involved, she said. Eventually, a polling place was stationed inside her home’s garage.
Bozzo still remembers those days well.
“The results would be hand-counted and they wouldn’t come in until 1 or 2 in the morning,” she said.
Eventually, the polling place left her home but she continued to take part in the Election Day activities, she said. Bozzo has worked at multiple polling places all throughout the city, and in her last year she’ll spend it at Spring Grove School.
“I quit driving this year … so I needed transportation,” she said. “I was able to get a ride out to Spring Grove.”
And it won’t be easy to say goodbye.
“I’ve done it for years and I love it,” she said. “I know that I’ve enjoyed it.”
What she’ll miss the most is just being around people, meeting new voters and seeing her old friends. A proclaimed “people-lover,” she loves to see the young get out and vote.
“It’s the idea of being out with people, talking to them, prior to voting and all,” she said. “I’m just a people person.”
But this year is her last, and next year she plans to just vote and let others do all the work, she said. Instead of waking up early, she’ll stay home with her canary, Harvey, and listen to him sing.
That’s all next year though. This Tuesday she’ll wake up early one last time before watching others vote. And she can’t wait.
“That’s my life, at the present time – not only the present time, but also the past,” Bozzo said.
