Vineyard voters will go to the polls Tuesday to help choose a new Massachusetts governor along with nine members of the Martha's Vineyard Commission, four county commissioners and a new district attorney for the Cape and Islands.

Voters will also be asked to answer a series of ballot questions on an array of issues from bilingual education to changing the way the Island's Steamship Authority governor is appointed.

The purple and white bumper stickers are somewhat primitive, produced on a home computer with no stickum, so they have to be fixed to bumpers with Scotch tape. But if bumper stickers that fall off in the rain carry a message about the group that made them, then in this case the message is grass roots and underfunded.

Add to that, committed.

Against the backdrop of a heated race for Massachusetts governor and a slew of ballot initiatives on everything from bilingual education to income tax, voters on Martha's Vineyard will face their own subset of important electoral decisions on the first Tuesday in November this year.

Torn down the middle for the third time in three years, the expressions eloquent and heartfelt on both sides of the street, a strained and weary Ma

Testing the power of their weighted vote for the first time since the board was expanded, the two Island Steamship Authority governors yesterday blocked a proposal to launch seasonal freight service between New Bedford and the Vineyard next summer, calling for more study.

"As we develop New Bedford service, I feel it's more important to do it right than to do it right now," declared Vineyard SSA governor Cassie Roessel.

From Montreal to Martha's Vineyard, from two languages to one, from urban to rural, from one island to another. Just two days into his first week on the job as the new executive director of the Martha's Vineyard Commission, Mark London has developed a keen appreciation for plastic boxes.