With their business concluded on town meeting floors, voters in three Vineyard towns go to the polls today for annual town elections.
Balloting will take place in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury.
In Edgartown and Oak Bluffs, voting hours are from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. In Edgartown voting will take place at town hall, while Oak Bluffs voters will head to the Oak Bluffs library.
In West Tisbury the polls are open from noon to 8 p.m. in the public safety building.
There are few contested races this year, and most of the political action is in Oak Bluffs, where three people are running for two seats on the board of selectmen. Incumbents Michael Santoro and Walter Vail are both running for a second term; Abraham Seiman, a member of the town finance committee, is also running for a seat.
There is also a race for planning board, with affordable housing advocate Ewell Hopkins challenging longtime incumbent John Bradford.
Elsewhere on the Oak Bluffs ballot, four people are running for three seats on the finance committee. The candidates are incumbents Maura McGroarty and Mr. Seiman, who said he will decline the seat if he wins a selectman seat, and Kimberly Burke and Robert Huss.
Michael Hoyt and Michele Moore are in the running for a three-year spot on the school committee, with the seat vacated by longtime committee member Priscilla Sylvia, who decided not to seek another term. Mr. Hoyt has served on the school advisory committee for six years and is its current chairman. Mrs. Moore has been president of the Oak Bluffs parent teacher organization for the past four years. Both have children at the Oak Bluffs School and the regional high school.
In West Tisbury there is one question on the annual town election ballot, with voters asked to make the elected treasurer an appointed position. Last year, voters at the annual town meeting approved a warrant article that called for the change and approval is contingent on the ballot question. The West Tisbury treasurer is the last elected treasurer on the Island.
There are no contests on the ballot. Selectman Richard Knabel is running for re-election and Maria McFarland is running a write-in campaign for a vacant seat on the board of assessors.
Edgartown voters also face a ballot question on an election day with no contested races. Voters will be asked whether to change the town clerk from an elected to an appointed decision; town meeting voted in favor of the switch on Tuesday. Selectman Margaret Serpa is running unopposed for a sixth term on the board. Robert Sparks, an incumbent planning board member, is running for reelection but his name does not appear on the ballot, so Mr. Sparks is running as a write-in candidate.
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