Despite big issues on the horizon such as budget overrides, questions around affordable housing, and a proposed $333 million new high school project, there is not a whole lot of suspense on the ballot this spring.
Only a handful of races are actually contested among the positions up for re-election in all six towns in this election cycle. Among candidates for select board seats, there will be six new names on the town ballots, but only three of them are in contested races.
Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, and West Tisbury are the first towns to hold town elections, all on April 16. Chilmark is scheduled to vote on April 29. Tisbury will go to the polls on May 12, and Aquinnah on May 14.
Tisbury
Two candidates are vying for the select board seat that has been left vacant for months in Tisbury: Constance Alexander, a retired Tisbury School teacher and former planning board chair, and John Gregory Martino, who co-owns Cottage City Oysters and is a former town representative on the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.
The seat was held by former board chair Christina Colarusso, who resigned in January to focus on her health. She had missed numerous meetings since September prior to her resignation, and the board conducted business for months without her before she stepped down.
Meanwhile, Tisbury could have even more new select board members next year. A petition was filed with the town clerk by residents who want a bigger board. If approved by voters, the board would expand from three to five members, and the two newly created seats would appear on the 2027 ballot.
The select board isn’t the only contested race in Tisbury. Incumbent town clerk Hilary Conklin faces Joanna H. Jernegan, who has worked in the same department and is currently the administrative secretary in the clerk office. Meanwhile, Betsy Carnie and Emma Kaitlin Kristal are running for a seat on the health board. Bruce J. Campbell and Richard Wayne Homans Jr. are competing for a two-year term on the finance and advisory committee.
Among uncontested races, those who are not incumbents include Patrick B. Rolston for water commissioner and Thomas George Goulet for the finance and advisory committee. Candidates running to retain their seats uncontested include John F. Schilling for moderator, Kenneth A. Barwick for constable, James Bartholomew Norton for the board of assessors, Jennifer Marie Cutrer for the Tisbury School committee, David J. Schwab for water commissioner, Mary Bernadette Budinger-Cormie for the planning board, Ruth Davis Konigsberg and John Alexander Meleney for the finance and advisory committee, Nancy Lee Weaver as the town’s representative on the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission, and Robert Peyton Gilpin, Jean B. Lewellyn, and Norah Van Riper for library trustees.
Tisbury will hold its election on May 12 at the Tisbury Emergency Services Facility at 215 Spring St., from noon to 8 pm.
West Tisbury
The only contested race in West Tisbury is for the select board seat, in a race that is pitting two longtime residents who’ve known each other for many years against each other.
Jessica Miller, the incumbent West Tisbury Select Board member, is being challenged by Garrison Vieira, a first-time candidate who serves as a sergeant in the Chilmark Police Department.
Both have extensive personal histories with the town, and stated concerns in a candidates’ forum over the $3.49 million override West Tisbury is requesting voters approve at town meeting. The forum was hosted on April 7 by the League of Women Voters of Martha’s Vineyard.
Other new candidates who are running for seats, though uncontested, are Katharine Joy Leaird for library trustee and James A. Graham as the town’s representative on the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission.
Incumbent candidates in uncontested races include Caroline R. Flanders for moderator, Maria G. McFarland for the board of assessors, Tara J. Whiting-Wells for town clerk, Jeremiah Brown for tree warden, Emily Fern Fischer for library trustee, Kimberly J. Angell and John R. Christensen for finance committee, John J. Powers for constable, and Matthew D. Gebo and David L. Small for park and recreation committee.
West Tisbury will hold its town election on April 16 at the West Tisbury Public Safety Building at 454 State Road, from 7 am to 8 pm.
Edgartown
Voters in Edgartown and the remaining towns will have election days lacking in suspense, because there are no contested races on their ballots.
Julia Tarka, owner of Rosewater in Edgartown, is running uncontested for the select board in Edgartown, where longtime board member Margaret Serpa announced in March she won’t be seeking re-election after more than three decades in the position.
Other newcomers include Juliet Mulinare for planning board, Marisa Boniface for library trustee, and David Burke for wastewater treatment commission.
Other uncontested races include incumbents Alan Gowell for board of assessors, Gretchen Regan for board of health, Christopher Greene for Edgartown School committee, David Alan Faber and Denise Searle for library trustee, Jane Varkonda for parks commissioner, Scott Ellis and Gordon Brown for wastewater treatment commission, and Donna Lowell-Bettencourt and Leslie Baynes for financial advisory committee.
Edgartown will hold its town election on April 16 at its town hall at 70 Main St., from 10 am to 7 pm.
Oak Bluffs
In Oak Bluffs, William F. Cleary, who has served the town in other capacities such as in the capital improvement committee and formerly in the planning board, is running for the select board seat that is held by Thomas Hallahan, who decided in January he won’t seek re-election. Cleary also ran for the select board in 2024.
Besides Cleary, the only candidate who isn’t an incumbent is Melvin Joroy Story, who is running to be constable.
Other uncontested races include Dion Alley for the select board, Thomas Carmine Zinno Jr. for the board of health, Amy Lee Del Torto for town clerk, John Victor Tiernan for cemetery commissioner, Amy Kathlyn Billings for park commissioner, Erik Riis Albert and Scott Alan Slarsky for the planning board, Robert Edward Malecki for the finance committee, Gail M. Barmakian for wastewater commissioner, Raymond Joseph Moreis Jr. for water district commissioner, and Kathryn Ann Oaks Shertzer for the Oak Bluffs School committee.
Oak Bluffs will hold its town election on April 16 at Oak Bluffs Public Library at 56R School St., from 10 am to 7 pm.
Chilmark
Rebecca Lynn Haag, former executive director of Island Grown Initiative, is running for the select board in Chilmark, and is slated to take the seat currently held by Marie Larsen, who decided in January she wouldn’t seek re-election.
Other candidates who are expected to join their desired boards for the first time include Norman Daniel Birnbach for library trustee and Mary E. Grady for the cemetery commission.
Incumbents running uncontested for re-election include Elizabeth Barrett Oliver for the board of assessors, Mitchell Posin for the planning board, Drew M. Belsky for the board of health, Deborah Hancock for the finance committee, Aaron Monteith Brown for tree warden, Hugh Stix Weisman and Peter Bigelow Cook for the planning board, Marshall Emmett Carroll III for the finance committee, and Kaila Allen-Poisin for library trustee.
Chilmark will hold its election on April 29 at the Chilmark Community Center on 520 South Road, from noon to 8 pm.
Aquinnah
Only three residents pulled papers for seats that were up for re-election. Juli Vanderhoop, owner of Orange Peel Bakery and longtime Aquinnah Select Board member, is running uncontested in her seat, as are incumbents Kayla Darcy for town clerk and James Benoit for board of health.
Aquinnah will hold its election on May 14 at Town Hall on 955 State Road from noon to 8 pm.
