It’s late June and few people are thinking about politics, even though a campaign to elect a new U.S. Senator from Massachusetts is in its final days.
A special state election will be held on Tuesday to fill the seat left vacant by John Kerry who left in January to take the job as U.S. Secretary of State.
The two candidates for this key Senate seat could not be more different.
It seems the wheels fell off the Obama Express just as the victory celebration ended. The hangover has set in and it may last four more years, if he survives the gods of politics. Suddenly, even ardent supporters are stunned as they watch their leader stumble from one crisis to the next.
The Vineyard voted in line with the rest of the commonwealth Tuesday, backing Democratic U.S. Cong. Edward Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez, a former naval special warfare lieutenant commander, in the state primary to replace Sen. John Kerry, who resigned in January to become secretary of state.
Town clerks reported relatively low turnout, around 19.5 per cent Islandwide, with slightly higher turnout in Chilmark and Tisbury, which also held town elections. The two town elections featured no contested races but several ballot questions related to spending, all of which passed.
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.
A state primary Tuesday will coincide with two annual town elections on the Vineyard.
Chilmark and Tisbury will hold their town elections on the same day as the primary in a special election to fill the seat formerly held by Sen. John Kerry.
Despite the change in dates to coincide with the senate election primary, town clerks in Chilmark and Tisbury are expecting low voter turnout.
Mr. Kerry stepped down in January to become secretary of state after serving as senator for 28 years.
Oak Bluffs voted in favor of catch-and-release shark tournaments, West Tisbury approved a new police station and Edgartown approved two spending pr