MOTTVILLE - With 50 years of experience working Election Day voting booths in Mottville, 78-year-old Betty Mahoney will be tough to replace if she decides Tuesday marked her last election as a poll inspector.

After first volunteering to watch over polls in the hamlet's District 5 in 1959, Mahoney admitted that 2009 could be her last year staffing the polls as she focuses on other aspects of her life.

As she sat at a table handing out ballots while helping to explain the new electronic voting system, Mahoney stopped to say hello to several of the friends she made throughout the years, many of whom she remembered as children coming in with their parents decades ago.

“Watching all of these kids grow up, that's a good memory,” Mahoney said. “And now I am seeing them have children. There are so many people who I have known through the years here.”

While this could be Mahoney's last year working the Mottville polls, some of her co-workers believed she would remained involved in some degree.

“She's been doing it a long time,” said election inspector Don Price, who has worked with Mahoney for nearly 17 years. “Betty is like an old warhorse. She will go back to the races, it just depends on how she feels.”

Part of the appeal that has kept her coming back year after year was the chance to meet other people from her community, Mahoney said. That desire was also evident in Mahoney's work as a volunteer escort for Laker Limo or as director for the Singing Seniors of Skaneateles.

“I like the work and I like the people,” Mahoney said. “It's always a long day, but it's always a good day here, and you get to see the election results.”

With a small group of the same eight people working the District 5 and 6 polls for several years, all of the members said Mahoney's absence will disrupt the social makeup of team.

“It will change the dynamics of how we all work together,” said District 5 Chairwoman Peg Austin. “She was helpful, had a lot of experience and was very friendly.”

Mahoney said that in 1959 she first came to the Mottville fire station as a poll watcher.

During her years working during elections, the polling place moved to a nearby church before eventually returning to the fire station, where the District 5 polling place remains today.

“I'm really back where I started,” Mahoney said. “I learned a lot about politics here. I never got involved in politics, but you do learn a lot as an inspector here.”

Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net