A tie vote leaves Tisbury dry -- for now

April 18, 2008 10:05 AM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The tie goes to the runner in baseball. The same is not true for the drinker in Tisbury.

Voters reached a 690-to-690 stalemate on a referendum this week that would have allowed beer and wine sales in the Martha’s Vineyard town, which has been dry since at least before Prohibition began in 1920. The measure fell one vote short of the majority it needed to pass.

It was clear that the proposal had divided Tisbury, said Town Clerk Marion Mudge, but no one was prepared for a dead tie. It was Mudge and two other election officials who retrieved the totals Tuesday night from the automated ballot box at Town Hall.

“After we picked our jaws up, we looked at each other and said ‘Wow,’ ” Mudge said. “Then we announced the results, and everybody went ‘Wow.’ ”

A group led by local restaurant owners has already filed a petition for a hand recount, which could be scheduled at a meeting next week. The machine recorded 21 ballots that left the referendum question blank, which has buoyed hopes that there may have been a malfunction and that a recount may break the tie.

Of the 12 towns that ban the sale of alcohol in Massachusetts, four of them are on Martha's Vineyard. However, the lingering vestiges of the island’s Puritan roots may be weakening. Aquinnah, another island town, is poised to end its 137-year ban on alcohol sales in May when voters are asked to give final approval to a petition that has already passed once and been signed by the governor.

In Tisbury, Mary Snyder is a member of a committee pushing to keep the town dry. The sale of beer and wine at restaurants would set a bad example for young people, Snyder said, especially in the summer when the town is packed and tourists may drink late into the evening. It would also hurt long-time island residents, she said, who are used to a "bring-your-own-bottle" policy when they go out to eat and won’t be able to afford the restaurant markup for wine.

“For most Yankees, the economics are overwhelming, I think,” Snyder said.

“I’m surprised it was a tie,” she continued. “Everybody was surprised it was a tie. I hoped obviously that the no side would win.

“And as of now, the no vote stands.”