The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizens the right to petition their government. Petitioning government is part of our DNA. We benefited from British institutions of direct democracy that can be traced back to the Magna Carta. In the New England colonies direct democracy was the foundation for government, citizens could petition their government in town meetings and annual election ballots.
At the national level, petitioning Congress peaked in the 19th century but has declined since then. In the 19th century disenfranchised citizens, including women before suffrage, free blacks, and indigenous peoples were able to petition the federal government to address issues and enact reforms that Congress was unwilling to initiate.
The decline in direct democracy over the past century is due to several factors. The Progressive movement at the turn of the 20th century relied on a strong central government to enact reforms such as antitrust legislation. Both World Wars and the Great Depression were accompanied by an expanded role for the federal government.
One of the most important reasons for the decline of direct democracy in recent years is that Congress simply ignores these petitions. A good example is the failure of citizens to use the petition process to balance the budget. This petition effort grew after World War Two as the federal government incurred deficits and accumulated debt at an unsustainable rate. In fact, in 1979 states submitted enough petitions calling for an Article V amendment convention to propose a balanced budget, to meet the two thirds threshold required for Congress to call the convention. But Congress failed to even record and count these petitions as required by the Constitution.
As the federal government has become more autocratic and dismissive of citizen petitions, interest in the petition process has waned. The unprecedented levels of debt incurred by the federal government in recent years have triggered renewed interest in direct democracy. Citizen groups are now challenging the failure of Congress to record and count these state petitions.
A major barrier to the petition process is the high cost of petition campaigns. Over the past decade the average cost of a state petition campaign has increased from about $1 million to more than $3 million. The average cost per required signature increased from about $3 to more than $15. The high cost of petition campaigns means that petitions submitted by deep pocket special interests have an advantage over petitions submitted by private citizens and taxpayer groups.
The high cost of petition campaigns in many jurisdictions reflects the efforts by elected officials to undermine direct democracy. Politicians have turned the petition process into an obstacle course that deters citizens from exercising their constitutional right to petition. They have imposed filing fees, increased the number of signatures required to place a measure on the ballot, and imposed strict time limits to gather signatures. Even when citizens meet these requirements, state officials often reject signatures on technical and legal grounds. The single subject rule is often used to reject petitions entirely.
An outmoded technology relying on wet signatures is now required for petitions to be placed on the ballot. Citizens must physically sign a petition form filled with complicated language describing the proposed measure. Most citizens do not have the time to engage with a petitioner in this cumbersome outmoded technology.
Modern technology relying on digital signatures could bring a revolution in direct democracy. Modern technology, relying on electronic signatures, is now the norm for transactions in the private sector. The Blockchain technology used to ensure the security of digital currency systems can be used to verify signatures in a petition campaign. In fact, this technology could significantly improve the reliability of the petition process. Electronic signatures can be verified and authenticated to be sure that only eligible citizens sign the petition.
Much of the bureaucracy now used to conduct petition campaigns could be eliminated with this technological change. The only losers would be bureaucrats and lawyers who spend endless hours enforcing archaic rules governing the petition process. Nitpicking wet signatures in this archaic petition process diminishes confidence in the petition process.
In a petition campaign relying on electronic signatures the cost per signature is estimated at $2. Reducing the cost per signature from $15 to $2 would significantly reduce the total cost of petition campaigns. Grass roots citizens and taxpayer organizations would no longer face the hurdle of high cost that now deters them from launching petition campaigns. Opening petition campaigns to a wider group of citizens could help jump start direct democracy in America.
Dr. Barry W. Poulson is professor emeritus at the University of Colorado, Boulder Colorado, and on the Board of the Prosperity for US Foundation
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