Coronavirus: Edgartown Postpones Town Meeting, Elections

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MA — The Edgartown Select Board has postponed its annual town meeting and town election until May due to the coronavirus emergency declaration. The town election and meeting originally scheduled for April 14 and April 16, respectively, have been rescheduled to May 12 and May 14.

A sample ballot for the town election will be available within 20 days of the new town election date.

The six island towns of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket sent a joint letter to Gov Charlie Baker's office on Thursday asking for an exemption to the state's designation of construction and landscaping as "essential" services in the state's stay-at-home declaration. The six Martha's Vineyard towns either approved or provisionally approved their own stay-at-home orders last Wednesday ordering the bans in hopes of protecting the island towns with limited medical resources.

The towns argued that the isolation of the island — as well as the limited capacity to solicit mutual aid and tend to an overload of those needing hospitalization in any community spread — makes its stricter guidelines imperative to the island's safety.

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