Editing Easthampton, Massachusetts (section)

==Government==

Easthampton was first established in 1785 as a town, with a [[board of selectmen]] acting as the executive. It had a [[town meeting]] form of legislature. Local voters enacted their newest charter in July 1996, establishing a city form of governance while retaining the name "Town" in its official name. Michael Tautznik was elected the first mayor of Easthampton in September 1996, after a charter was passed making the mayor the chief executive officer. The [[town council]] replaced town meeting as the legislative branch and consists of four at-large members and five district councilors. In 1999 the mayor and council petitioned the General Court to remove the word "town" from its name and to replace the word town with "city".{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}} Mayor Tautznik was elected to an eighth term in November 2010. In November 2013, Karen Cadieux was elected mayor after Mayor Tautznik did not seek reelection. In 2017, lawyer Nicole LaChapelle defeated long-time district councilor Joy Winnie to become the city's next mayor.

In 2019, the city voted by referendum to adopt single-winner [[Ranked-choice voting in the United States|ranked-choice voting]] to elect the mayor as well as city council members from single-winner districts, while retaining [[Plurality voting|plurality]] [[First-past-the-post voting|first-past-the-post]] elections for the four at-large council seats. The reform took effect for the 2021 city elections. In 2023, the city voted by referendum to adopt proportional multi-winner ranked-choice voting for the four at-large districts.

At the state level, Easthampton is in the Hampshire & Hampden district of the [[Massachusetts Senate]], represented by [[John Velis]] (D-Westfield), and the 2nd Hampshire district of the [[Massachusetts House of Representatives]], represented by [[Daniel R. Carey]] (D-Easthampton).<ref>{{cite web|title = Find My Legislator | publisher = malegislature.gov | access-date = 2023-11-12 | url = https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator}}</ref>  Easthampton is located in the Eighth [[Massachusetts Governor's Council]] district and is represented by Tara Jacobs (D-North Adams).<ref>{{cite web|title = Councillors | publisher = mass.gov| access-date = 2023-11-12 | url = https://www.mass.gov/info-details/councillors}}</ref>

{| class=wikitable
! colspan = 6 | Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of October 15, 2008<ref>{{cite web|title = Registration and Party Enrollment Statistics as of October 15, 2008 | publisher = Massachusetts Elections Division | access-date = 2010-05-08 | url = http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/st_county_town_enroll_breakdown_08.pdf}}</ref>
|-
! colspan = 2 | Party 
! Number of Voters
! Percentage
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}}
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| align = center | 4,117
| align = center | 35.49%
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}}
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| align = center | 1,027
| align = center | 8.85%
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent Party (United States)}}
| Unaffiliated
| align = center | 6,327
| align = center | 54.54%
|-
| {{party color cell|Libertarian Party (United States)}}
| [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]]
| align = center | 130
| align = center | 1.12%
|-
! colspan = 2 | Total
! align = center | 11,601
! align = center | 100%
|}