The six Island towns voted in near unison at the midterm elections Tuesday, standing together in favor of the Democratic incumbents for office and most of the ballot questions.
Islanders backed Gov. Maura Healey over Mike Minogue, U.S. Sen. Edward Markey over John Deaton and U.S. Rep. Bill Keating over challenger Tyler Macallister.
Unofficial tallies had the six Island towns voting 7,064 to 1,895 in favor of Governor Healey and her running mate Kim Driscoll over the Republican challengers. Senator Markey was up 7,048 to 1,819 on the Vineyard and Mr. Keating had a 7,326 to 1,770 lead on the Island.
Island residents were largely on the same page when it came to the 10 ballot questions, voting in favor of maintaining existing gun control regulations, keeping adult-use marijuana stores and creating a new nature fund to support conservation land.
The midterm election saw strong turnout throughout the day, with some election officials saying it felt more like a presidential election.
There were few contested races locally. Seven candidates – Tristan Israel, Randy Milch, Doug Ruskin, Christine Todd, Peter Wharton, Michael Bellissimo and Katherine Putnam – were running for seven open seats on the Dukes County Commission.
On the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, Ben Robinson, Doug Sederholm and Brian Smith were all reelected. Fred Khedouri, a Chilmark resident, and Katherine Putnam, an Edgartown resident, were also voted in.
There were nine open seats in the Martha’s Vineyard Commission race, and towns were still tallying up the slew of write-ins who would take the remaining spots.
The Island towns were largely aligned on the ballot questions and the rest of the state. Island towns backed question 1, which would open the governor’s office and state legislature to public records law. The aggregate for the six towns was 7,798 in favor and 1,205 opposed, according to unofficial tallies.
On question 2, which would allow collective bargaining for employees in the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the Island voted in favor with a tally of 6,279 to 2,608.
All six Island towns voted against question 3, which would have changed the way Massachusetts conducts its primaries. If passed, the question would have eliminated political party primaries and instead would have had one central primary.
Vineyarders balked at the idea, voting 3,734 to 5,293.
Islanders backed the potential for a new statewide nature fund. The proposal was backed by Mass Audubon and The Trustees of Reservations, the latter of which was campaigning at the polls in Edgartown.
On that question, Islanders voted 6,365 in favor and 2,515 against.
Question 7, which still hadn’t been called Wednesday morning, was where the towns differed.
Aquinnah, Tisbury, and Oak Bluffs voted in favor of the measure, which would allow single-family homes to be built on traditionally undersized lots if the municipalities had access to town water and sewer.
West Tisbury, Chilmark and Edgartown voted against. The proposal would only affect the down-Island towns – West Tisbury, Chilmark and Aquinnah don’t have public water or sewer.
The Vineyard rejected question 8, which would have rolled back the law that legalized recreational marijuana stores. The measure failed statewide and here it lost 1,833 to 7,369.