On the eve of the presidential election, national news organizations are reporting the closest presidential election in decades. And while many have already voted early, polls will be open to Island voters on Tuesday, Nov. 5, from 7 am to 8 pm.
Voting locations on the Island
Aquinnah will hold voting at Aquinnah Town Hall at 955 State Road.
Chilmark will hold voting at the Chilmark Community Center at 520 South Road.
Edgartown will hold voting at Edgartown Town Hall at 70 Main St.
Oak Bluffs will hold voting at Oak Bluffs Public Library at 56R School St.
Tisbury will hold voting at the Tisbury Emergency Services Facility at 215 Spring St.
West Tisbury will hold voting at the West Tisbury Public Safety Building at 454 State Road.
Mail-in ballots need to be postmarked by Nov. 5.
As of Monday, the New York Times’ poll tracker shows Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump are neck and neck in the polls. In key battleground states, the difference is one point or less in North Carolina, Michigan, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Georgia. Trump has a three-point lead in Arizona, and the two candidates are even in the polls for Pennsylvania.
Harris is expected to have a strong showing in Massachusetts, where polls show her leading Trump by 27 points.
High turnout already
The showdown between Harris and Trump has been attracting Islanders to the polls to vote early, and anxiety levels have been elevated, The Times has reported.
Already, town clerks across the Island are reporting that between roughly 20 percent and 40 percent of registered voters have cast ballots, whether in person or by mail. West Tisbury is at the low end, with 17.6 percent of voters casting a ballot, and Chilmark is at the high end with 40.1 percent.
But it isn’t just the presidential election that is looming over the Vineyard. There are some contested local races, such as for the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and the Cape and Islands state Senate seat, five ballot questions, and congressional races as well: Sen. Elizaben Warren and Rep. Bill Keating are up for re-election.
Local and congressional elections
In the Cape and Islands state Senate seat, Republican Christopher Lauzon from Barnstable and unenrolled candidate Joe Van Nes from West Tisbury are challenging progressive Democratic incumbent Julian Cyr from Provincetown, who has represented the Island since 2016.
Martha’s Vineyard Commission
There are 10 candidates running for nine seats on the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. No candidate is running to represent Aquinnah, at least on the ballot, and because of commission guidelines, there will be a vacant seat if there isn’t a write-in candidate. So that leaves eight seats for a pool of 10 running.
The commission also allows only up to two commissioners from one town, and both West Tisbury and Tisbury have more than two candidates running. Further complicating the picture, Trip Barnes is running a write-in campaign, having missed the deadline to be on the ballot. He is the fourth candidate from Tisbury.
Here are the candidates vying for a seat: Jeffrey Agnoli from Edgartown, Jay Grossman from Chilmark, Benjamin Robinson from Tisbury, Ernest Douglas Sederholm from West Tisbury, Linda Bauer Sibley from West Tisbury, Brian Conway Smith from Oak Bluffs, Michael Carson MacKenty from Edgartown, William Henry O’Brien from Tisbury, Mary Bernadette Budinger-Cormie from Tisbury, and Amy M. Upton from West Tisbury.
MacKenty, O’Brien, Budinger-Cormie, and Upton are newcomers to commission races.
Ballot questions
Voters will be asked to weigh in on five ballot questions, from eliminating testing requirements for high school graduates to requiring minimum wage for tipped workers.
A poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire’s Survey Center shows Massachusetts voters heavily lean in favor of allowing the state legislature to be audited by the state auditor (Question 1) and to allow drivers contracted with companies like Uber to form unions (Question 3).
And while not as strong in their support, voters polled in favor of legalizing a limited amount of psychedelic substances (Question 4) — something that Charles Silberstein, a psychiatrist associated with Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, and director of Island Counseling Center, has warned against.
Voters are more split regarding whether to get rid of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, as a high school graduation requirement (Question 2), and whether tipped workers’ minimum wage should be raised to the full $15 per hour (Question 5).
While more voters polled in favor of getting rid of the MCAS, 43 percent were against getting rid of the test. WBUR reported that opponents of the MCAS argued the system only develops test-taking skills, and takes time away from teaching students other skills, like speaking in public and critical thinking. Proponents of the MCAS argue the test is the only real way to measure whether a student is ready to graduate.
Meanwhile, polling has shown that Question 5 has had considerable opposition. The Times previously spoke with several people in the Vineyard’s restaurant industry, most of whom worried that the ballot measure would reduce tipping and cut into pay, skyrocket restaurants’ operational costs, and impact jobs. Still, one bartender argued a living wage needed to be set so restaurant workers could live on the Island.
A copy of the ballot can be seen here. A copy of an informational booklet about the ballot questions from the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office is available here.
