We are a week away from Halloween. The air feels cool, and I even heard someone say she had a first frost in her Skiff Lane yard. Hay bales, corn stalks, and pumpkins of all sizes are decorating the ends of driveways, doorways, and garden gates, and scarecrows made by Charter School students are standing guard in front of businesses in town. It all feels fall-like and festive.
The library’s annual Halloween Party will be next Thursday, Oct. 31, 3 to 5 pm. Costumes, hay rides, games, spooky refreshments, and trick-or-treating at the Field Gallery and Howes House are all part of the plans.
Town meeting last Tuesday night was canceled because we didn’t have a quorum. By quite a lot: only 99 potential voters of the required 139. The articles will be taken up at our Town Meeting next spring.
Early voting began Saturday morning at the Public Safety Building. I worked there with Tara Whiting-Wells and Barbara Blakesley from 10 am to 2 pm. We had a steady stream (really more of a rivulet) of voters that added up to 67. At one point, all of the voting booths were occupied, and we had to offer chairs at the tables around the room. Everyone was given an “I Voted Early” sticker.
It was thrilling to all of us and, seemingly, to all of the voters. Everyone commented on the privilege of freely voting, recollecting the first time we voted as 18- or 21-year-olds. Presidential elections are always extra-exciting.
Tara will be at the Public Safety Building this week from 8 to 11 am, then again on Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm. Saturday will be the last day to register to vote before the election on Tuesday, Nov. 5. After Saturday at 5 pm, Tara will make a new voters list. If you have not registered by Oct. 26, you will not be able to vote on Election Day.
Election Day hours are 7 am to 8 pm. Make sure you are registered, and make sure you vote.
Interestingly, we were asked questions about how our election processes work in town, so I’m passing along the following information: People voting early on Saturday saw that their names were checked off the voters’ list, and the date they voted was noted beside their names. They were handed a ballot and envelope, and given instructions to place the filled-out ballot inside the envelope, fill in their name and physical address, seal the envelope, and place it in a big zippered bag that Tara locks in the town hall vault at the end of her workday. Mail-in ballots must be sealed in their envelopes the same way, then are locked away in the vault.
In Massachusetts, early ballots are not opened and tallied until Election Day. Tara has three teams lined up to begin counting mail-in and in-person early votes at 9 am. Those ballots are run through a separate machine that will keep a running tally and a tape. That number will be added to the total from the voting machine that Election Day voters feed their ballots into. Overseas ballots are counted separately, by hand, then noted on the spreadsheet at the end of the night. Everything happens at the Public Safety Building.
Many of us remember the hand-cranked wooden voting machine, and when we still counted ballots by hand after the polls closed. It was one of the best nights of small town life. I miss those days.
FYI: We now have 2,778 registered voters in West Tisbury.
If you have any West Tisbury Town Column suggestions, email Hermine Hull, hermine.hull@gmail.com.
