AWAD LANDS ON SELECT BOARD

Last night, Anne Awad beat incumbent Hill Boss in the race for a seat
on the Amherst Select Board 2189 to 1429. Voters also answered a
referendum question concerning marijuana with a resounding yes.

Awad won Boss’ place on the Amherst Select Board and, as of 11:50 p.m.
last night, the Amherst Town Clerk’s office announced that the
non-binding question concerning the decriminalization and
de-prioritization of marijuana had indeed passed with 1659 citizens
voting in favor of it and 981 voting against it. The voting took place
on campus from noon to 8 p.m. at the Hampshire Dining Commons for
Southwest residents, North Fire Station in Amherst for Orchard Hill
and Van Meter residents and Immanuel Lutheran Church for Northeast and
Sylvan residents.

Awad is currently an employee at the State Department of Public
Health. She sought to not only develop, but also to protect the local
community.

She was in favor of the referendum question on the subject of
marijuana and had many students’ support for both her campaign and for
her position on the referendum question.

The incumbent, Boss, was clearly divided in his views on the
referendum question from those of his opponent.

Boss said that he had no problem with the first part of the referendum
question, which dealt with the decriminalization of marijuana offenders.

The referendum asked that marijuana offenders not be considered
criminals.

He disagreed with the second part of the question, which asked for
police to in a way to, in his words, “look the other way,” in that
type of situation. Boss felt that the issue was currently being taken
as a political issue when it should instead be a strictly a legal decision.

When it comes to the question of the deprioritization and the
decriminalization of marijuana, the Cannabis Reform Coalition (CRC)
branch at the University of Massachusetts and the Citizen’s for a
Sensible Marijuana Policy have been extremely involved in getting this
non-binding question to pass. At least one woman decided to sit
outside under the bridge in the Southwest residential area on an
inflatable chair urging students passing by to vote for Awad and the
referendum question.

The CRC also petitioned Amherst using a signature drive that included
students in the past to initially get the question onto the official
ballot.

In addition to its past efforts, the CRC discussed the issues
associated with marijuana and voting for Awad in the Campus Center,
and passed out many different flyers to students passing by.

It was anticipated that voter turnout would be considerably higher
this year as many local residents were expected to vote on the
referendum question.

The final voter turnout was 20.4 percent.