Updated March 12
Voters head to the polls for local town elections in the coming months, and so far Chilmark and Oak Bluffs are the only two with contested races for town select boards.
A vacancy on the Chilmark Select Board that will be left by a longtime sitting member brings a batch of residents vying to take the seat. Andrew Goldman, Jeffrey Allen Maida, William David Meegan, and Miles Brandon Brucculeri all pulled nomination papers to run for a seat on the board during Chilmark’s annual town election on Wednesday, April 24. However, Goldman and Brucculeri did not submit nomination papers by the deadline, so only Maida and Meegan will appear on the ballot.
Chilmark Select Board chair Bill Rossi announced earlier this year that he would not be running for another term, after more than a decade on the board. This is the second year in a row Chilmark residents will vote for a new select board member. Marie Larsen won the seat in 2023, after Warren Doty decided to leave. Doty served for 24 years on the board.
Chilmark town clerk Jennifer Christy also told The Times nobody took out nomination papers for the positions of constable, tree warden, or two of the finance committee’s three-year seats.
Oak Bluffs also has four candidates running for two seats on the town’s select board. Incumbent and current chair Emma Green-Beach will be competing against Kris Chvatal, K. Mark Leonard, and William Cleary III. Select board member Jason Balboni, whose term ends this year, will not be running for office. Balboni was not immediately available for comment.
The one other contested race in Oak Bluffs is between the incumbent Richard Combra Jr. and Jonathan Hunt for a three-year term as the town’s tree warden. Meanwhile, no one is running for the three-year seat open on the Oak Bluffs School committee.
The only contested race in Edgartown is between R. Andrew Kelly and Michael D. Magaraci, for the position of parks commissioner for a three-year term.
In West Tisbury, the only contested race is between incumbent Michael Colaneri and Patti L. Roads, for a three-year seat on the board of assessors.
The annual town elections for Oak Bluffs, Edgartown, and West Tisbury are scheduled for Thursday, April 11.
Aquinnah and Tisbury are still accepting nomination papers for candidates. Nomination papers are due on Thursday, March 28, at 5 pm in Aquinnah and on Tuesday, April 23, at 5 pm in Tisbury.
Aquinnah’s annual town election is on Thursday, May 16, and Tisbury’s annual town election is on Tuesday, June 11.
To familiarize voters with who is running for office, the League of Women Voters of Martha’s Vineyard announced they will be sponsoring candidate forums for the Island. The forums will be held in person, and provide an opportunity for voters to ask the candidates questions. The forums will also be videotaped for airing on MVTV, channel 13, and will be on demand.
Here are the schedules for each Vineyard town’s candidate forum:
- Edgartown’s forum will be held at the Edgartown library on Saturday, March 23, at 2 pm.
- West Tisbury’s forum will be held at the West Tisbury library on Tuesday, April 2, at 7 pm.
- Oak Bluffs’ forum will be held at the Oak Bluffs library on Wednesday, April 3, at 7 pm.
- Chilmark’s forum will be held at the Chilmark Community Center on Thursday, April 4, at 6 pm.
- Aquinnah’s forum, if there are contested races, will be held at Aquinnah Town Hall on Wednesday, April 24, at 7 pm.
- Tisbury’s forum, if there are contested races, will be held at the Tisbury Senior Center on Thursday, May 30, at 7 pm.
The League will also have the forums, alongside other election information, available on its website, and shared to its Facebook page.
Updated with corrections to the Chilmark candidates’ information.