Martha’s Vineyard voters head to the polls today to decide a spirited race for governor and four contentious ballot questions.
Locally, Island voters will fill seven seats on the Dukes County Commission, and nine seats on the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC). Up-Island voters will be asked to choose from among six candidates for five seats on the up-Island school committee.
A Chilmark ballot question asks voters to exempt borrowing for road repairs from the provisions of Proposition 2.5.
West Tisbury voters will be asked to elect a new town moderator to fill the position held for 23 years by Pat Gregory, who was murdered while vacationing in California last May. Dan Waters, development director of the Martha’s Vineyard Museum and a longtime resident of West Tisbury, is the only candidate on the ballot.
All seven seats are up for grabs on the Dukes County Commission.
The election ballot lists the names of four candidates, all incumbents, leaving three slots open to write-in candidates. Christine Todd of Oak Bluffs, an incumbent who failed to get on the ballot, and Gretchen Tucker Underwood, a newcomer to Island politics have announced write-in campaigns.
The following names appear on the ballot: John S. Alley of West Tisbury; Leon Brathwaite II of West Tisbury; Tristan Israel of Tisbury; and David Holway of Edgartown.
Voters today must also make the biennial selection of the nine elected members of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC).
Nine candidates appear on the official ballot, which instructs voters to vote for not more than nine candidates. All but two of the nine currently serves on the commission.
Residents of one town may vote for candidates from other towns, but at least one commissioner, and no more than two, must be elected from each town.
For example, if the candidates with the three highest vote totals are from the same town, only two will be elected to the MVC. If a candidate with the lowest vote total overall were the only candidate from that town, he or she would be elected.
Voters in Aquinnah, Chilmark, and West Tisbury will elect five people to four-year terms on the Up-Island Regional School District (UIRSD) school committee.
There are two names on the official ballot and four declared write-in candidates. The three candidates, one from each town, who receive the highest vote totals in Tuesday’s balloting will each represent his or her town. The two candidates who receive the next highest vote totals will be elected as at-large members regardless of where they live.
The race is complicated by the fact that no Aquinnah or Chilmark resident is on the ballot. Those races will need to be decided by write-in votes.
The person who receives the highest total of write-in votes will be considered the winner. If that person declines to serve, the position is declared vacant and the selectmen and school committee meet to select someone to fill the seat.
Town clerks will not only need to decipher names, but they will need to track down a candidate’s town, if voters fail to provide that critical information.
Jeffrey “Skipper” Manter and Michael Marcus are running for reelection from West Tisbury and appear on the ballot.
There are four declared write-in candidates: Roxanne Ackerman of Aquinnah; Kate DeVane of West Tisbury; Robert Lionette of Chilmark; and Theresa Manning of Aquinnah.
Polls close at 8 pm.
Poll Locations
Aquinnah Old Town Hall; Chilmark Community Center; West Tisbury Public Safety Building; Tisbury Public Safety Facility; Oak Bluffs Public Library meeting room; Edgartown Town Hall meeting room.