Allowing non-citizens and underage youths to vote in local elections in Amherst would require a change in Massachusetts state law, the town's legal counsel said.
Lauren F. Goldberg wrote that the cities of Cambridge, Somerville, Lowell, and Northampton have all tried to lower the voting age for local elections from 18, as well as the towns of Harwich, Ashfield, Shelburne, and Wendell – but that none have succeeded to get a bill enabling it through the state Legislature.
The town of Edgartown is challenging the fast-tracked approval by a state agency of cables needed for an offshore wind-turbine project.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued what the state calls a "superseding order of conditions" earlier this month overturning a decision by the Edgartown Conservation Commission to deny a permit for the cables, which opponents say may jeopardize fishing off the east coast of Martha's Vineyard.
