The right to petition is rooted in the Constitution’s First Amendment, having been used by citizens in the late 1700s, for example, to press Congress on matters like copyright law and economic development. But for more than 200 years petitioning has been an unwieldy process that has required the petitioner to gather thousands of signatures on paper and send them in through postal mail.
“Americans have always used petitions to organize around issues they care about. Now, thanks to the Internet, they’re even more popular — so popular, in fact, that we’ve come up with a better way to engage this activity online,” said Macon Phillips, director of the White House Office of Digital Strategy, in a video posted on Whitehouse.gov on Thursday.
Here’s the three-step process for the new online petitioning website, called We the People:
1. Create or Sign a Petition
“Anyone 13 or older can create or sign a petition on WhiteHouse.gov asking the Obama administration to take action on a range of important issues facing our country. To get started you’ll need to create an account and verify your email address. Start thinking about the issues that matter to you, what you would like the Obama administration to do to address the important challenges facing our country, and who you’ll ask to join you.”
2. Build Support and Gather Signatures
“Creating or signing a petition is just the first step. It’s up to you to build support for a petition and gather even more signatures. Use email, Facebook, Twitter and word of mouth to tell your friends, family and coworkers about the petitions you care about.”
3. The White House Reviews and Responds
“If a petition meets the signature threshold, it will be reviewed by the Administration and an official response will be issued. And we’ll make sure that the petition is sent to the appropriate policy makers in the administration.”
At least 5,000 signatures must be gathered for a petition before it’s reviewed by the White House.
The U.S. won’t be the first nation to accept e-petitions. The UK government has accepted thousands of petitions through its portal; the threshold for a government review there is 100,000 signatures.
Video: The White House explains the new e-petitioning capability.
