Ballots are shaping up in for spring town elections on the Vineyard, with contested selectmen’s races in West Tisbury and Oak Bluffs. Edgartown voters will see a two-way contest for the planning board.
Vineyard voters turned out in high numbers Tuesday, backing Democratic candidates up and down the ballot and electing Robert Ogden as the new county sheriff and Paulo DeOliveira as Register of Deeds.
Vineyard voters will join their counterparts across the country at the polls Tuesday in a presidential election year expected to go down in history for unprecedented rancor, and an electorate on edge.
Only Aquinnah and Chilmark still count ballots by hand, using wooden boxes that have stood the test of time. But similar boxes lie hidden in offices and odd corners around the Island.
Robert Zeltzer of Chilmark said the commission should take a greater role in providing Island-wide services.
Gretchen Underwood, a retired administrator from Oak Bluffs, said the commission should make fiscally responsible decisions that benefit all residents.