On a rainy primary election day, voters were turning out in a steady trickle across the Island to select candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, district attorney and, most energetically, sheriff.

Less than two hours after polls opened in Oak Bluffs, town clerk Colleen Morris said 34 voters had come through the doors of the Oak Bluffs library to cast their ballots. By 8 p.m., she hoped there would be 25 per cent turnout for the primary, equivalent to about 1,050 voters.

Ms. Morris said the first hours at the polls were slow, with a couple brief bursts. She said she and the poll workers were waiting for traffic to pick up and live up to the numbers promised by early voting last week.

“Early voting was terrific … I think [about] 400 ballots,” Ms. Morris said.

She said she expects a strong turnout for the primary, considering the races on the ballot.

“There are some races that people are interested in, suffice to say,” she said.

In Tisbury, town clerk Hillary Conklin said that the beginning was very slow, but by a few hours in it picked up to a “steady slow,” a typical pace for a primary day. Pink and blue example ballots, one for each of the parties, were helpful to independent candidates who had to select which party to vote in, she said.

As of around 10:30 this morning, 130 ballots had been processed, a combination of mail-in and in-person votes.

Outside the polls in several towns, campaigners held signs for the two candidates for Dukes County sheriff, incumbent sheriff Bob Ogden and former Oak Bluffs police chief Erik Blake, both Democrats. There is no Republican candidate for the six-year seat, so the winner of the primary will be the presumptive winner in November.

Both Mr. Blake and Mr. Ogden were seen making rounds of the polls in the morning, meeting with voters and thanking the volunteers who remained outside the polls, holding signs and waving to passing cars.

Despite the race at hand, and despite the weather, members of the two camps chatted and joked with one another as voters arrived to the polls.

Find a full breakdown of all the races here. Check back for election results as they become available.

Aidan Pollard, Brooke Kushwaha and Thomas Humphrey contributed to this story.