Vineyard voters followed the rest of the state in electing Cong. Edward J. Markey to the U.S. Senate in a special election Tuesday.

Mr. Markey, a Democrat from Malden who has spent 37 years in the House of Representatives, was elected to the senate with 55 per cent of the vote, the Boston Globe reported. His opponent was Gabriel E. Gomez of Cohasset, a businessman and former Navy SEAL.

Voter turnout on the Island averaged 32.5 per cent, higher than the statewide average of 27 per cent.

Plans to add a large expansion to an Oak Bluffs church continued to face scrutiny at the Martha’s Vineyard Commission late last week, as commissioners and neighbors questioned the impact on the neighborhood and the environment.

The Alliance Community Church (formerly Nova Vida) has applied to build a 9,000-square-foot addition to its Ryan’s Way building in order to build a 150-seat church.

The town of Oak Bluffs remained under a boil water order Tuesday, as the water district waited for the mandatory 48-hour water sample testing to be completed. Paul Provost, superintendent at the Oak Bluffs water district, said he was surprised that the Department of Environmental Protection imposed the boil water order Monday morning because while the water did contain a background coliform bacteria, the sample did not come up positive for fecal matter. “The water is safe,” Mr. Provost said. “Just boil it, and that boiling is really a precaution. The state wants to protect all the Oak Bluffs customers like they do every other town. This is why we sampled, because if we do have a problem in the well, you want to know and you want to deal with it.”

Polls will be open across the Island for an unusual June election today. Republican Gabriel E. Gomez of Cohasset and U.S. Cong. Edward J. Markey of Malden, a Democrat, are vying to take the Senate seat vacated by John Kerry, who stepped down in January to become Secretary of State.

Moving trucks arrived at the Lagoon Pond drawbridge Monday morning as the state took the next steps in a plan to raze a home tucked under the bridge that is owned by a longtime Vineyard summer family.

The home, owned by Charlotte Holloman, is slated to be demolished to make way for the new bridge project that begins in the fall.

Dukes County sheriff Michael McCormack confirmed that his office had issued a warrant of possession at the Holloman home, which is similar to an eviction notice.