This article was updated on Nov. 7 to include preliminary election results from Truro.
PROVINCETOWN — An anxiety-provoking presidential election contest came to an anxious end on the Outer Cape on Tuesday night, as Democrats and Republicans watched election returns. Preliminary tallies showed that little has changed in the Outer Cape towns since the 2020 contest between then-President Trump and Joe Biden.
In Provincetown this year, the Democratic ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz carried 2,422 of 2,664 votes, or 91 percent, while the Republican ticket of Trump and Ohio Senator JD Vance got 191 votes, or 7 percent.
Provincetown voted 92 percent for Joe Biden and 7 percent for Donald Trump four years ago.
In Wellfleet, Harris and Walz carried 1,816 of 2,419 voters, or 75 percent, while Trump and Vance won 501 votes, or 21 percent. Joe Biden won 78 percent four years ago in Wellfleet, while Trump won 20 percent.
In Eastham, Harris and Walz won 2,880 out of 4,157 voters, or 69 percent, while Trump and Vance won 1,155 votes, or 28 percent. Four years ago, Biden won 69.5 percent of the vote in Eastham while Trump won 28 percent.
At 1:40 a.m. on Wednesday morning, at the Independent’s deadline, Truro communications coordinator Katie Riconda reported that votes were still being counted by hand in Truro. She said preliminary results were not expected for another two hours.
Once that tally was complete, it showed that Harris and Walz had won 1,434 out of 1,818 voters, or 79 percent, while Trump and Vance won 358 votes, or 20 percent. Truro voters gave 78 percent of their votes to Democrat Joe Biden four years ago, while Trump won 19 percent.
Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, won about one-half of one percent of the vote in every town except Wellfleet, where her 36 votes represented 1.5 percent of the total.
Further down the ballot, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Bill Keating were easily re-elected, and Democrat Hadley Luddy won an uncontested race to fill retired state Rep. Sarah Peake’s seat in the state House of Representatives.
Democratic state Sen. Julian Cyr had defeated Republican Chris Lauzon in every town in the Cape and Islands state Senate district that had reported results to the Boston Globe as of early Wednesday morning.
Likewise, incumbent county commissioners Mark Forest and Sheila Lyons, both Democrats, were beating challengers Ron Beaty and Cynthia Stead, both Republicans, in every town on Cape Cod for which the Boston Globe had tallied results.
Question 4, which would legalize and regulate the supervised use of five psychedelic substances and the cultivation of psychedelic plants and fungi at home for personal use, was failing statewide, although it had carried a large majority in Provincetown and a 20-vote majority in Wellfleet. Late returns from Truro showed that voters there favored Question 4 by about 53 percent.
Question 5, which would raise the minimum wage for tipped workers while also allowing owners and managers to create “tip pools,” was failing statewide and in Provincetown, Wellfleet, Eastham, and Truro.
Question 3, which would allow ride-share drivers to unionize, was carrying majorities on the Outer Cape while leading narrowly statewide.
Question 2, which would eliminate the state’s MCAS test as a requirement for high school graduation, and Question 1, which would allow the state auditor to audit the legislature, were both coasting to easy wins on the Outer Cape and statewide.
Question 6, a county-wide measure that would establish greater powers for the Assembly of Delegates over the county budget process, was ahead in Provincetown and Eastham but failing narrowly in Wellfleet. Question 6 was narrowly approved by Truro’s voters.
Question 7, an advisory public policy question about wind energy that would direct newly elected state Rep. Hadley Luddy to support “offshore and onshore wind power developments in Massachusetts,” passed by a large margin in Provincetown but was losing in Wellfleet and Eastham.
It was also defeated narrowly in Truro, with 877 people voting against Question 7 and 820 people voting for it.
