Trip Barnes is attempting another shot at returning to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. After a failed write-in campaign, Barnes is considering getting an appointment from the governor to serve on the Island’s regional regulatory authority.
Barnes, who has represented Tisbury on the MVC for more than 10 years, missed the deadline to pull election papers for the state election held earlier this month. Mary Bernadette Budinger-Cormie and incumbent Ben Robinson were ultimately elected as Tisbury representatives.
Some voters were confused about which Vineyard commission he was actually running for, according to Barnes; a number of voters wrote him in for the Dukes County Commission, which he almost won by accident.
The final tally from town clerks shows that Barnes received 85 write-in votes for the Dukes County Commission race, the most coming from 30 ballots cast in Tisbury. Still, it wasn’t enough to surpass incumbent county commissioner Juli Vanderhoop from Aquinnah, who received 94 write-in votes, the highest count coming from the 57 ballots cast in her town.
Vanderhoop, who also missed the deadline to submit papers for the Dukes County Commission, said that she will accept the post.
“I will gladly take the seat, but it’s unfortunate [some] people didn’t know … where they cast their vote,” Vanderhoop said, adding that she hopes to be able to increase awareness of the Dukes County Commissioners’ role of getting resources to the Island.
Meanwhile, Barnes is planning to contact Gov. Maura Healey’s office to become appointed to the commission, although Barnes said he wasn’t sure how likely this will be.
A representative from the governor’s office was not immediately available for comment.
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission is a 21-person regulatory body in which 17 members are eligible to vote, according to the commission’s website. Five members can be appointed by the governor or a cabinet member, although only one of them can vote on matters regarding a “district of critical planning concern” or “developments of regional impact.”
Michael Kim is the current governor’s appointee with voting powers on the commission.
