On Monday, April 30, in a special session of representative Town Meeting, members will vote on what should be a formality in the wake of last month’s resounding charter approval: asking the state for permission to conduct Town Council elections this year (and only this year) at the same time as the state primary and general elections.

Scheduling our first council elections to coincide with state elections is sensible and pragmatic. It will help ensure higher turnout and eliminate the unnecessary effort and expense of an entirely separate election. Such a petition is only required for this first election because in subsequent town elections, ranked choice voting will render primaries moot, and voters will go to the polls on Election Day in November of odd years.

But there are concerning signs that some charter opponents are using this vote as a pretext to create a legal controversy. Their claim is that the new charter disenfranchises student voters, because nomination papers for Town Council become available June 1 and would have to be returned Aug. 1 — times when most local students are not in town.

Let’s be very clear about what this really means. Students who wish to run for district councilor seats on this first Town Council would have from June 1 to Aug. 1 to gather 25 signatures required to run for office. Having two months to collect 25 signatures is not an insurmountable burden for a candidate aspiring to represent a district comprised of two voting precincts in a legislative body that will operate year-round.

Our town’s voters have spoken — with authority. Representative Town Meeting members should follow the directive of the electorate and put in place the election schedule called for in the charter by voting “yes’ at the special Town Meeting on Monday night.

Amherst can’t afford to engage in a never-ending campaign waged on the merits of a charter vote that already passed by an overwhelming margin. Instead, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Johanna Neumann

Amherst

The writer is chairwoman of Amherst for All, the campaign that worked to pass the new charter which was approved March 27 by a vote of 3,502 to 2,491.