Mrs. Guy W. Stantial and Mrs.
It’s an even-numbered year and midterm election season has arrived in Dukes County as well as around the country.
The deadline to register to vote or change party for the Nov. 6 election is Oct. 17. All town clerk’s offices will be open that day until 8 p.m.
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.
Early morning voter turnout for the special state primary and town elections Tuesday was low, but, in at least one town, steady. Oak Bluffs town clerk Deborah Ratcliff said that, as of 10 a.m., she had seen more voters than expected at the public library.
“We’ve had somebody here every moment,” she said. Shortly after, the lone pair of voters in the ballot area left as two more walked into the polls. Still, Ms. Ratcliff said only about 40 voters had shown up to mark their ballots.
Oak Bluffs voted in favor of catch-and-release shark tournaments, West Tisbury approved a new police station and Edgartown approved two spending projects during Thursday’s town elections.
Voter turnout was sparse, between nine and 13 per cent, and few races were contested.
Oak Bluffs voters approved a nonbinding referendum that would make shark tournaments in town catch and release only by a margin of 225 to 186.
High political season begins on the Island this week when voters gather in four Island towns for annual town meetings and elections.
