Vote!

The week ahead will be a busy one for the civic-minded on the Island, and we know you, our readers, are all in that category. 

Tuesday there are town meetings in West Tisbury, Oak Bluffs, and Edgartown where fateful decisions will be made on everything from the proposed ban on noise pollution regarding gas-powered leaf blowers to plans to address environmental pollution due to rising nitrogen levels amid  expensive sewer projects, to a debate surrounding the future of the iconic Mill Pond. 

Then on Thursday there are town elections across the Island, with all eyes on Edgartown and two challengers running to unseat the powerful select board member Michael Donaroma, the owner of one of the Island’s most successful landscape businesses, who has reigned over town government for more than a decade. 

Our award-winning news team under the leadership of Managing Editor for News Sam Houghton has framed these issues for you, and introduced the candidates and what they stand for, across this print edition, and of course, there is more coverage online which you will want to follow through the week. 

As you can read on the front page, Houghton and our news team were recognized with a First Place award for “General Excellence” in weekly newspapers of our size by the New England News and Press Association (NENPA). We are indeed proud of that recognition, and we hope you will join in celebrating  the hard work that goes into keeping you informed through our local news coverage. We are trying our best to do our job, and now it is time for you as citizens to do your jobs and get out there and vote. And we will applaud you for that! 

There is no more sacred obligation between a community and its residents than to make sure your voice is heard, and this spring in particular, there are important and fateful decisions to be made across the Island. 

So our editorial this week is less about specific endorsements and more about an endorsement of our democracy, a belief that we all have a role to play. At a time when the foundations of our democracy seem to be under attack from so many corners, it has never felt more important for all of us to step up and do what is right on a local level: VOTE! 

The best way to defend our democracy is to exercise your right to vote. 

And town meeting is a special time of year when any registered voter can make their voice heard, be it amending town budgets, calling local officials to account, saying no to big spending requests, or imposing restrictions on an industry they find a nuisance. 

Oak Bluffs, West Tisbury, and Edgartown are all having annual elections on Thursday next week as well. Do you see the need for new leadership in Edgartown? To preserve Mill Pond into perpetuity, even if  could come with added costs and continued poor water quality? Should Oak Bluffs Police be allowed to give a few more thousand dollars to help their officers process traumatic events? These are all  questions that we should weigh carefully, and then cast our votes  next week.