Town Government - How to Participate

Register to Vote
You must register to vote in Massachusetts. To qualify for registration you must be: a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years of age by election day, and a resident of the district in which you register. The town clerks in each town are responsible for registering voters (check the town listing for town hall office hours). Town clerks also hold special registration hours in the evenings before annual elections.

Town Meetings & Elections
On Martha's Vineyard, voters participate directly in the major decisions and money allocations voted on at town meetings. The agenda for the town meetings is called the warrant, and the issues to be voted on are the articles. Only 10 signatures are required on a petition if a citizen wishes to bring an issue before the voters for their consideration. However, most of the articles on the warrant are prepared by the selectmen or various town departments. Information on warrant deadlines is available at the town clerk's office.

All six Island towns hold annual town meetings in the late winter or early spring. Special town meetings can be called at other times of the year. The voter can call a town meeting by petition by gathering 100 signatures of registered voters, but generally, special town meetings are called by the selectmen.

In order to participate in a town meeting, you must be a registered voter in that town. Observers are welcome at town meeting, but are usually required to sit in a separate visitors' section. The warrants for town meetings appear in the local papers and the warrant for the annual town meeting is published in the Annual Town Report. These are available at the town hall and at the annual town meeting.

Town elections take place each spring and anyone interested in running for an elected office should obtain information from the town clerk early in the year. There is a deadline for declaring yourself a candidate for office. The procedure is precise and must be carried out according to state statute. The town clerk is the authority on this matter and must be consulted for the correct procedure. (Specifics vary from town to town.) Write-in candidates and sticker votes are legal if the correct name and address of the candidate are used.

Absentee voting in elections is permissible. Again your town clerk should be consulted for the correct procedure. There is no absentee voting on issues brought before the town meeting. Election of officials is held on or after the date of the annual town meeting.

Town Government Information

The following pages contain useful telephone numbers and contact information for various boards and public offices, both elected and appointed, in each town:

Aquinnah: (formerly known as Gay Head)
Chilmark:
Edgartown:
Oak Bluffs:
Vineyard Haven: (also known as Tisbury)
West Tisbury: