Editing Amherst, Massachusetts (section)

==Government==
[[Image:Town Hall, Amherst MA.jpg|thumb|right|Town Hall]]

Amherst has a [[town council#Massachusetts|town council]] for its legislative branch and a [[town manager]] for its executive branch. The town manager is appointed by the town council.<ref name="amherst-home-rule-charter">{{Citation |url=https://www.amherstma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/41987/Amherst-Home-Rule-Charter |format=PDF |title=Amherst Home Rule Charter |access-date=December 2, 2018}}</ref>

Amherst's town council consists of ten district councilors and three councilors-at-large. Two district councilors are elected from each of five districts in Amherst. The three councilors-at-large are elected by the whole town. Each councilor serves a two-year term, except for the first council, where each member will serve a three-year term.<ref name="amherst-home-rule-charter" />

Amherst also has the following elected bodies:<ref name="amherst-home-rule-charter" />

* A five-member School Committee with two-year terms.
* A six-member library board of trustees with two-year terms.
* A single Oliver Smith Will Elector with a two-year term.

Amherst also has a five-member housing authority in which three of the five members are elected by voters. Each member serves a two-year term.<ref name="amherst-home-rule-charter" />

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan=4 | Town Council Members<ref>{{Citation |url=https://www.amherstma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/45823/Nov-6-2018-Town-Election-Unofficial-Results |format=PDF |title=Town Election Unofficial Results |access-date=December 2, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! Title !! Name !! District !! First elected
|-
| Councilor-at-Large || Mandi Jo Hanneke || At-Large || 2018
|-
| Councilor-at-Large || Ellisha Walker || At-Large || 2021
|-
| Councilor-at-Large || Andrew Steinberg || At-Large || 2018
|-
| District Councilor || Michele Miller || 1 || 2021
|-
| District Councilor || Cathy Schoen || 1 || 2018
|-
| District Councilor || Lynn Griesemer || 2 || 2018
|-
| District Councilor || Patricia De Angelis || 2 || 2018
|-
| District Councilor || Dorothy Pam || 3 || 2018
|-
| District Councilor || Jennifer Taub || 3 || 2021
|-
| District Councilor || Anika Lopes || 4 || 2021
|-
| District Councilor || Pam Rooney || 4 || 2021
|-
| District Councilor || Shalini Bahl-Milne || 5 || 2018
|-
| District Councilor || Ana Devlin Gauthier || 5 || 2021
|}

=== State and federal representation ===
In the [[Massachusetts Senate]] Amherst is in the "Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester" district,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eledist/sen11idx.htm |title=Massachusetts Senatorial Districts |access-date=March 21, 2014}}</ref> represented by Democratic State Senator [[Jo Comerford]] since January 2019. In the [[Massachusetts House of Representatives]] Amherst is in the [[Massachusetts House of Representatives's 3rd Hampshire district|3rd Hampshire]] district,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eledist/reps11idx.htm |title=Massachusetts Representative Districts}}</ref> represented by Democratic State Representative [[Mindy Domb]] since January 2019.  Amherst is part of the Eighth [[Massachusetts Governor's Council]] district and has been represented by Tara Jacobs since January 2023.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mass.gov/info-details/councillors |title=Councillors | author=Mass.gov | access-date=2023-09-13}}</ref> 

Amherst is represented at the federal level by an all-Democratic delegation, including Senators [[Elizabeth Warren]] and [[Ed Markey]], and by Representative [[Jim McGovern (American politician)|Jim McGovern]] of the [[Second Congressional District of Massachusetts]].

===Voter registration===
[[File:Amherst Massachusetts Voter Turnout vs Registered Voters.svg|thumb|250px|Voter turnout versus voter registration over time.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://electionstats.state.ma.us/ |title=Every election at your fingertips |access-date=March 18, 2018}}</ref>]]

Voter registration data is from the state election enrollment statistics.

{| class=wikitable
! colspan = 8 | Registered Voters and Party Enrollment<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleregistrationstats/registrationstats.htm |title=Registration Statistics |author=<!--Not stated--> |access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref>
|- 
! Year
! {{party shading/Democratic}} colspan = 2 | [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
! {{party shading/Republican}} colspan = 2 | [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
! {{party shading/Independent}} colspan = 2 | Unenrolled
! Total
|-
| 2004
| 8,522
| {{percentage|8522|17816|1}}
| 1,231
| {{percentage|1231|17816|1}}
| 7,623
| {{percentage|7623|17816|1}}
| 17,816
|-
| 2006
| 8,350
| {{percentage|8350|16980|1}}
| 1,076
| {{percentage|1076|16980|1}}
| 7,228
| {{percentage|7228|16980|1}}
| 16,980
|-
| 2008
| 9,343
| {{percentage|9343|18956|1}}
| 1,076
| {{percentage|1076|18956|1}}
| 8,257
| {{percentage|8257|18956|1}}
| 18,956
|-
| 2010
| 8,675
| {{percentage|8675|17501|1}}
| 948
| {{percentage|948|17501|1}}
| 7,661
| {{percentage|7661|17501|1}}
| 17,501
|-
| 2012
| 10,324
| {{percentage|10324|22425|1}}
| 1,219
| {{percentage|1219|22425|1}}
| 10,665
| {{percentage|10665|22425|1}}
| 22,425
|-
| 2014
| 9,645
| {{percentage|9645|21431|1}}
| 1,156
| {{percentage|1156|21431|1}}
| 10,454
| {{percentage|10454|21431|1}}
| 21,431
|-
| 2016
| 10,414
| {{percentage|10414|22196|1}}
| 1,146
| {{percentage|1146|22196|1}}
| 10,202
| {{percentage|10202|22196|1}}
| 22,196
|-
| 2018
| 10,249
| {{percentage|10249|21993|1}}
| 1,025
| {{percentage|1025|21993|1}}
| 10,331
| {{percentage|10331|21993|1}}
| 21,993
|-
| 2020
| 8,562
| {{percentage|8562|16551|1}}
| 575
| {{percentage|575|16551|1}}
| 7,166
| {{percentage|7166|16551|1}}
| 16,551
|-
| 2022
| 7,222
| {{percentage|7222|14243}}
| 414
| {{percentage|414|14243}}
| 6,441
| {{percentage|6441|14243}}
| 14,243
|}

===Politics===
Like many college towns, Amherst leans heavily Democratic. In each of the presidential elections from 2012 to 2020, more than 80% of Amherst's votes went to the Democratic candidate. The last Republican to win Amherst on the Presidential level was [[Richard Nixon]] in [[1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts|1960]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/electionstatisti19591960mass/page/344|title = Election statistics, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts}}</ref>

In the [[2020 United States presidential election]], Democrat [[Joe Biden]] received 90.3 percent of the vote to incumbent Republican [[Donald Trump]]'s 7.4 percent.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/statesub.php?year=2020&fips=25015&f=0&off=0&elect=0|title=2020 Presidential General Election Results - Hampshire County, MA|last=Leip|first=Dave|website=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220907160348/https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/statesub.php?year=2020&fips=25015&f=0&off=0&elect=0|archive-date=Sep 7, 2022}}</ref> In the [[2000 United States presidential election]], Amherst was one of a small number of places that delivered more votes for Green Party candidate [[Ralph Nader]] (who took 24% of the vote) than Republican candidate [[George W. Bush]], who received just 13%.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fujiwara |first1=Daigo |title=Map: How Your Mass. City Or Town Voted In Dozens Of Recent Elections |url=https://www.wbur.org/news/2018/03/19/massachusetts-past-election-results |website=WBUR |publisher=WBUR |access-date=2022-12-17}}</ref>