Leaning heavily Democratic, Martha’s Vineyard voters threw their strong support behind attorney Maura Healey in her history-making bid for Massachusetts governor Tuesday in a mid-term election that saw bitter divisions along partisan lines around the country.
Voter turnout was strong in every Island town despite a relative dearth of local races, with Islanders helping to elect Andrea Campbell as the first Black female Massachusetts attorney general. In local races, voters strongly backed Democrat Robert Galibois as the new Cape and Islands district attorney over Republican candidate Daniel Higgins, and went heavily for state Sen. Julian Cyr over Republican challenger Christopher Lauzon, according to unofficial results.
Complete election results are being tallied on the Gazette website as they become available.
With votes still being counted late Tuesday, Mr. Galibois had the edge but was locked in a tight race against his opponent, while Mr. Cyr was favored to win.
Island voters also strongly backed longtime ninth district Rep. Bill Keating, who was leading Republican challenger Jesse Brown by a wide margin.
At 11:30 p.m. Tuesday results were in from all towns except Chilmark, where ballots are still counted by hand.
According to unofficial results from the four towns, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission saw a fresh slate of eight commissioners elected for nine seats, with a write-in candidte expected to fill the ninth seat for Aquinnah. The Dukes County Commission saw its own slate of five commissioners elected — with two more seats expected to be filled by write-in candidiates.
In Oak Bluffs, a $26 million wastewater expansion initiative was easily approved, 1,039-653.
In Tisbury Question 5, a town-specific question that will eliminate a requirement that alcohol sales in restaurants be accompanied by food also won easy approval, 1317-626.
A technical problem with the final page on mail-in ballots slowed the counting Tuesday, but in the end the outcome was unaffected.
Restaurant owner JB Blau, who had campaigned for Question 5, awaited results at the Tisbury emergency services facility Tuesday night. After it was confirmed that the measure had passed, he said offerng alcohol without food in restaurants would help keep tourists in town, providing needed business and revenue.
“This is a win for Tisbury,” Mr. Blau said. “I think that the vote today shows that the town trusts the license holders. The quaintness of Tisbury isn’t going to change.”
Four statewide questions, including the so-called millionaire tax, were still undecided late Tuesday.
On a bright, crisp fall day Vineyard voters began lining up as soon as polling stations opened at 7 a.m., and town clerks saw a steady flow for the remainder of the day. Early and absentee voting was also strong, leaving towns with boxes of paper ballots to process.
“It’s been crazy all day,” West Tisbury town clerk Tara Whiting said after the polls closed and unofficial results had begun rolling out. In West Tisbury, about 600 early ballots were cast.
In Edgartown 1,000 early and absentee ballots were cast, according to constable Scott Ellis. “It was very busy . . . I would have expected a lot less in an election like this where it’s not even presidential,” he said.
Edgartown town clerk Karen Medeiros also took note of the strong turnout.
“It went really well. Turnout was a lot better than the primaries,” she said.
Noah Asimow, Brooke Kushwaha, Aidan Pollard and Thomas Humphrey contributed reporting.
