This April’s Oak Bluffs town election is already shaping up to be a spirited affair.
Two of the five seats on the board of selectmen will be up for grabs with long-time incumbents Walter Vail and Mike Santoro running for re-election. This week, it became a three-way race when planning board chairman Brian Packish filed his nomination papers at town hall. Mr. Vail also filed papers with the town clerk this week. Mr. Santoro told The Times on Tuesday that he was out of town, but intended to file papers on his return to the Island this week.
In 2014, Mr. Vail and Mr. Santoro were re-elected to three-year terms in a three-way race. Mr. Santoro won 556 votes, Mr. Vail 488, and challenger Abraham Seiman finished with 343 votes.
Mr. Packish promises to pose a stiff challenge to the incumbents. In 2015, he ran in a five-way race to unseat long-time incumbents Kathy Burton and Greg Coogan. Mr. Packish failed to unseat Ms. Burton, the second-place vote-getter, by the slimmest of margins — he received 501 votes to Ms. Burton’s 508 votes.
Mr. Packish said that if he is elected to the board of selectmen this year, he will step down as chairman of the planning board, but will serve out his term, which ends in April 2018.
There’s still plenty of time for more candidates to enter the fray. The deadline to turn in nomination papers for certification by the board of registrars is Feb. 23. Town election will be on Thursday, April 13.