The winners of two contested seats on town-wide boards will be decided today as voters across Amherst go to the polls.
Incumbent Aaron Hayden – who also serves on the town’s Select Board – is being challenged by Vincent O’Connor for the Redevelopment Authority seat, while incumbents Patricia Holland and Christopher Hoffmann are facing off against Michael Wolff for the two Jones Library Trustee seats.
Incumbents Stephanie O’Keeffe and Diana Stein are running unopposed for two seats on the Select Board. Katherine Appy and Judy Brooks are running in uncontested races for posts on the school committee and housing authority, respectively. And Harrison Gregg is running unopposed for town moderator, as is John Coull for the post of the town’s Oliver Smith Will elector.
There are, however, a slew of contested races for membership on Town Meeting across several of the town’s 10 precincts.
But despite the overall low number of contested races in the election, Susan Audette, the assistant to the town clerk, didn’t want to estimate if the turnout would be low, as well.
“We never predict” the amount of people who will come out to vote, Audette said in a phone interview yesterday. “Overall, it’s been kind of quiet.”
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. today. Voters can find a full list of polling locations on the town’s website.
-Collegian News Staff