Next Tuesday night the Vineyard political season officially opens when annual town meetings get under way in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury. More than once the New England town meeting has been called the purest form of democracy, and certainly it is one of the oldest forms.

The origins of town meetings as early spring affairs date to a time when life revolved around the agrarian calendar — it was a convenient time for farmers.

And while happily the Vineyard still has many farmers, life is not centered so much around agrarian activities but more akin to that in any ordinary suburban place. Islanders work, shuttle their children to and from school, somehow finding time to make dinner between Little League practice and homework. Retirees linger over newspapers and conversation at coffee shops in the mornings and afternoons.

But in April and May, the pace quickens. Committees and town clerks work overtime preparing warrants, voter handbooks and town reports.

For a brief couple of months, all roads lead to the annual town meetings. Today’s Gazette carries an array of stories previewing the three meetings set for next week along with interviews of candidates who are running for office. All are intended to act as an information guide for voters.

A Gazette editorial published in 1954 said:

“Whether democracy works is up to the voters themselves, their willingness to turn out, to speak their minds, and to vote as their convictions dictate.”