Two candidates are vying for the position of town clerk in Tisbury, with one-term incumbent Hillary Conklin facing a challenge from Joe McCarthy.

The town election is on Tuesday May 9 from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the town emergency services facility.

Ms. Conklin has held the position for the last three years, working as the custodian of town records, the keeper of the seal, the chief election official and a justice of the peace.

Prior to being elected town clerk, Ms. Conklin spent 16 years working across the hall as the administrative secretary to the board of selectmen.

Hillary Conklin. — Mark Lovewell

“I gained a lot of municipal experience there,” Ms. Conklin said. She is a graduate of the New England Municipal Clerk Institute, one of about 1,100 clerks and assistant clerks who have completed the program in Massachusetts.

“It has enhanced my job performance and confidence,” she said.

She particularly enjoys when couple come into town hall to get married.

“It’s a very exciting time and I’m also a justice of the peace, so some people ask me to marry them, and that’s wonderful,” she said. “I just love it.”

Originally from Northampton. Ms. Conklin came to the Island in 1985 for a summer, and decided to stay. After years of the Island shuffle, she built a home in Tisbury in 2002.

“I do feel town hall is my home and I belong here,” she said.

Joe McCarthy has run and managed the Xtra Mart convenience store in Tisbury for the past 23 years.

“I’ve been called the unofficial town clerk...because I’m a wealth of information about the comings and goings of the town,” he said. He said he decided to run to become the official town clerk this year after encouragement by others in town.

Joe McCarthy. — Mark Lovewell

Along with the listed duties of town clerk, Mr. McCarthy said he would focus on enhancing the democratic process.

“I think the emphasis should be placed on registering youths to vote. The goal is to register voters,” he said. “Also, getting people to come meet the town clerk and let them know what they want.”

Mr. McCarthy moved to the Vineyard in 1990 and has spent the last 15 of those years in Tisbury. He said he loves to serve the public and to take on new challenges.

“Anything I’ve done in life I’ve done with a gusto and with a zest,” he said. “I have such a burst for life as we know it.”

More than anything, he hopes to work with the voters.

“As it says on my campaign posters, I’ll be there to serve you,” he said. “And if elected, come meet your town clerk, so we can all find out how I can help the rest of Tisbury.”