Nantucket County
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Photo: Brian Andrews, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center. Public domain., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
On May 19, 2026, the name that finished first in Nantucket’s Select Board race was not printed on the ballot. Bob DeCosta ran as a write in, and 1,919 voters wrote his name in by hand, more than either candidate whose name was already there. That is one measure of what a ballot can do on this island. Here is another. The five people that election seated do not run one government. They run two. Nantucket is a town and a county at the same time, the island is the whole county, and the same five people meet as the Select Board on one night and as the County Commission on another, under two charters the Legislature passed in the same year. The county charter even requires that the person who chairs one may not chair the other. This guide shows you where those rooms are and how to get into them.
Nantucket at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Nantucket. The town and the county are the same ground, 46.192 square miles of land about thirty miles off the coast of Cape Cod, at roughly 309 residents to the square mile.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, C. Elizabeth Gibson
- Also the county: the same five members sit as the Board of County Commissioners, and the town’s own Select Board page adds that they serve as Regional Transit Authority commissioners, Fire and Police Commissioners, Public Works Board commissioners and Sewer Commissioners.
- Schools: Nantucket Public Schools, about 1,653 students across four schools, led by Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett, Ed.D.
How Nantucket’s Government Works
Nantucket runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Nantucket is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board hires a professional Town Manager to run the town day to day. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, the direction is set by the Select Board, and the daily work is carried out by the Town Manager.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Nantucket is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Select Board
5 members elected town-wide. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and hire and supervise the Town Manager.
Town Manager
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
5 members, elected by the voters of the district the schools serve. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Town Manager and decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant.
- Town Meeting votes the budget and the bylaws, and every registered voter present can vote.
- You take part: register at 16, vote at 18, and once you are registered you are already a member of Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Select Board: meets most Wednesday evenings, recently in the Community Room at the Public Safety Facility, 4 Fairgrounds Road, and sometimes in the Great Hall of the Nantucket Atheneum at 1 India Street. Meetings are hybrid, with remote participation by Zoom, and every agenda and packet is posted in advance on the town’s agendas and minutes portal.
- County Commission: the same five people, typically on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 5:30 PM at the Public Safety Facility Community Room.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The Moderator, Sarah F. Alger, presides. The warrant, carrying the Finance Committee’s recommendation on each article, is mailed to every registered voter at least fourteen days beforehand.
- Town elections: Nantucket votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on Tuesday May 19.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Nantucket Edition
- Town Manager’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Nantucket HistorySherburne, the wharves, and two charters
- DemographicsWho lives in Nantucket
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataNantucket schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected countywide. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. Both of them answer to the voters of Nantucket County, and that includes Nantucket. They appear on your ballot. Now you know what to look for.
Every county in Massachusetts elects its own, and the job is the same everywhere: the charging decisions, the jail. Look up any town in the state and see who holds these two offices there.
Your First Civic Action in Nantucket
You do not have to wait until you can vote to be heard in your own town. Here is how to take a real concern to the people who decide.
- Pick the right body. Town policy, roads, and police or fire go to the Select Board. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. Every board on the island posts its agenda, its packet and its approved minutes on the town’s agendas and minutes portal, and you can subscribe to any board and be notified when a new document goes up.
- Know your members. Five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- Speak. The Select Board adopted a public comment policy on February 12, 2025, and every agenda carries a public comment item. Check the agenda for the procedure.
- Or write the article yourself. The town publishes guidelines for preparing a citizen warrant article, which is how a resident puts a question in front of Town Meeting rather than waiting to be asked.
- Town Hall: 16 Broad Street, Nantucket, MA 02554, open Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. Main line 508-228-7200, Select Board and Town Manager’s office 508-228-7255.
- Town and County Clerk & agendas: 508-228-7216, with agendas, packets and minutes posted on the town’s agendas and minutes portal.
- Public schools: Nantucket Public Schools, 10 Surfside Road, 508-228-7285.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.