The majority of residents in Amherst, Massachusetts, voted Tuesday to to put an end to their centuries-old Town Meeting and adopt a new form of government.
The Amherst Town Clerk posted the unofficial election results online from the March 27 Amherst annual election, which included a vote on a new charter.
Results are posted by precinct and town wide.
Defenders of Town Meeting saw it as a necessary bulwark against the corruptive forces of “big money” and pro-development interests.
Before the election, John Fox, a long-time member and supporter of Town Meeting, said that with 240 elected members from 10 different precincts, it had done a good job representing the town. He and others saw what will now be a 13-member town council as "an authoritarian body.”
