The voting is over and the arguing over the votes has begun. Everything, it seems, is open to question these days, at least on the national level.

If all politics is local, as former House Speaker Tip O’Neill famously (and ungrammatically) said, then it is good to be on Martha’s Vineyard where trust in the voting process and civility in accepting the outcome seem still to endure.

To be sure, there is far less partisan polarization here than elsewhere. Four times as many voters backed Vice President Joe Biden as President Donald Trump, and the Island’s two Democratic state legislators, Sen. Julian Cyr and Rep. Dylan Fernandes, had no opposition at all.

But there are clear differences — and differences of opinion — among Islanders.

Consider the race for Martha’s Vineyard Commission for the town of Tisbury, one of the few contested races on the ballot. Innkeeper Josh Goldstein, who often takes a pro-business view, narrowly lost his elected seat to architect Ben Robinson, who has made climate change a signature issue. While Mr. Goldstein may well end up with an appointed slot, he was generous in his concession, pointing to the need for younger people on the commission, including Mr. Robinson.

For his part, Mr. Robinson gave a nod to another business advocate, trucker Clarence (Trip) Barnes, who easily won another term on the MVC.

“I’m happy to have won, and I’m glad to see that Trip’s in there as well,” Mr. Robinson told the Gazette. “As much as we have some ideological differences, I respect his opinion.”

It is a small example of a larger phenomenon that happens quietly every day as Islanders who serve on government boards and committees find a way to bridge sometimes wide philosophical gaps.

It is hard to find much cause for optimism while watching the country’s descent into warring camps. With division fueled by mistruths and frightening rhetoric, there is every reason to doubt the ability of American democracy to survive, and the struggle for the soul of the nation is a fight worth fighting.

But there is some cautious comfort in watching the political process at the local level and observing how people forced to live and work together on an Island can find compromise and sometimes common ground. Said another way, it is harder to villainize the opposition when they are people you meet every day.

As the pandemic persists and Islanders retreat to their homes over the winter, checking social media and watching cable news, it will be easier to focus on what divides instead of what unites us.

There is much work to be done to ensure that Martha’s Vineyard remains the place we want to live. Get involved, and you may find some hope in politics. Local politics.