Jerry Guidera, Adam Lussier & Clare Bertrand: Vote for true representative democracy

Next Tuesday is local election day in Amherst. We hope you will join us in voting yes on the charter question.

Thanks to the 3,457 residents who signed the petition to ask voters to approve a Charter Commission, we now have a vote that really matters – a chance to consider new opportunities for our town. We’re betting that turnout will be higher than usual, with residents coming out in large numbers to vote “yes,” and to elect pro-change commission candidates to recommend an alternative form of Amherst governance for all of us to vote on.

A high turnout would be a departure from recent trends, however. From 2006 to 2010, voter turnout in local elections averaged only 20 percent. From 2011 to 2015 it dropped further, to an average of 10 percent. The last town-wide election drew barely more than 7 percent of registered voters. The upshot: Amherst residents have concluded that voting in town elections isn’t important. And under our current system, they’re right. With many seats open each year in our unwieldy, 240-person Town Meeting, voters really don’t have much choice. Again this year, most Town Meeting candidates will easily be elected without having to tell us what they think about key issues or worry about being held accountable for how they vote in Town Meeting.

Elections should be a way of telling our representatives what policies Amherst residents want, and of holding them accountable for implementing those policies. Where do we get to vote on competing visions for the future of the town? Right now, the picture isn’t very clear, so our town staff and part-time citizen volunteers are left to do their best, often with conflicting input from unaccountable “representatives.”

Over the past decade, 60 percent of Town Meeting precincts had either fewer candidates than open seats, the same number of open seats as candidates, or one more candidate than open seats. So if you’re a voter choosing your eight Town Meeting representatives elected each year, and you have maybe six, or eight, or even nine candidates to choose from, what kind of choice is that?

As we’ve argued in earlier columns, without accountability, we don’t have representative democracy. Without competition for open seats, our “Representative Town Meeting” is really a self-selected group, representing no one but themselves, a group that’s whiter, and older, and more likely to be homeowners than the people they supposedly represent.

And lack of accountability is not just a Town Meeting problem. On the executive side, it’s hard to know who’s in charge. Who negotiates on our behalf with the state and the university? Who decides how our taxes get spent, on roads, on open space, on economic development? How can we change leadership if we don’t like what they’re doing?

There’s got to be a better way. And while we don’t know exactly what that is, we know how to find out: next Tuesday, vote yes on the question at the bottom of the town ballot: “Shall a commission be elected to frame a charter for Amherst?” And at the same time, vote for nine commission candidates who are genuinely willing to look at fundamentally changing the status quo:

Andy Churchill, Town Meeting member, education administrator, former School Committee chair, Master Plan committee member, Town-Gown committee member; master’s in public policy.

Tom Fricke, award-winning ARHS social studies teacher; studied civic engagement issues with the UMass Civic Initiative and served on Unitarian and Veterans Education Project boards.

Nick Grabbe, retired reporter and editor, covered Amherst for over 30 years in the Bulletin and Gazette (and provided the statistics for this column); participant in Rotary, Amherst Club; volunteer for Not Bread Alone and Survival Center.

Mandi Jo Hanneke, Town Meeting member, president of local non-profit board; serves on Town Meeting Electronic Voting committee and Rental Bylaw Implementation committee.

Phil Jackson, former Town Meeting member, grew up in Amherst; has served on Town Meeting Coordinating Committee, Finance Committee, Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods Working Group, and Town/Gown Steering Committee.

Bernie Kubiak, Town Meeting member, retired town administrator and social service worker providing housing and opportunities for individuals with disabilities; master’s in public policy.

Maureen Raab, born in Amherst, returned to raise children here; local business owner; board member for Family Outreach of Amherst and Amherst Better Chance.

Irv Rhodes, Town Meeting member, retired school administrator and business owner; former School Committee chair, Finance Committee member, Rotary Club president, ABC vice president.

Julia Rueschemeyer, Town Meeting member; attorney and mediator; ARMS School Council member, parent representative on principal search committees; Amherst Ballet board member.

Full bios are available at AmherstforAll.org; video statements are at AmherstforChange.com.

The authors represent Amherst for All.