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[[File:Aláírásgyűjtés a betelepítési kvóta ellen - Nyugati tér, 2015.11.26 (2).JPG|thumb|Petition – Budapest, 2015.11.26]]'''Petitions''' are commonly used in the U.S. to qualify candidates for public office to appear on a ballot; while anyone can be a [[write-in candidate]], a candidate desiring that his or her name appear on printed [[Ballot|ballots]] and other official election materials must gather a certain number of valid signatures from registered voters. In jurisdictions whose laws allow for ballot [[initiative]]sinitiatives, the gathering of a sufficient number of voter signatures qualifies a proposed initiative to be placed on the ballot. The [[2003 California recall]] election, which culminated in the recall of Governor [[Gray Davis]] and the election of [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], began when [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] [[Darrell Issa]] employed paid signature gatherers who obtained millions of signatures at a cost to Issa of millions of dollars. Once the requisite number of signatures was obtained on the recall petition, other petitions were circulated by would-be candidates who wanted to appear on the ballot as possible replacements for Davis. After that step, a vote on the recall was scheduled.
Other types of petitions include those that sought to free [[Nelson Mandela]] during his imprisonment by the former [[apartheid]] government of [[South Africa]]. The petitions had no legal effect, but the signatures of millions of people on the petitions represented a moral force that may have helped free Mandela and end apartheid. [[Non-governmental organization]]sorganizations such as [[Amnesty International]] often use petitions in an attempt to exert [[moral authority]] in support of various causes. Other nongovernmental subjects of petition drives include corporate personnel decisions.<ref>[http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2012/02/flight-attendant-launches-peti.html Flight attendant launches petition drive to replace American Airlines executives] By Terry Maxon, Fri., Feb. 17, 2012 Dallas Morning News</ref> In the United Kingdom, a petition to the parliament in 1990 against [[Emergency medical services|ambulance service]] cuts attracted 4.5 million signatures.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-47693506|title=Brexit debate: Do petitions ever work?|last=Cheung|first=Helier|date=2019-03-26|access-date=2019-03-26|language=en-GB}}</ref> Today, petitions in Britain are often presented through the [[UK Parliament petitions website]], the forerunner of which was set up in 2006. Such [[online petitions]] are a new form of a petition becoming commonplace in the 21st century. [[Change.org]] was founded in 2007 and became the world's most popular online petition platform with around 50 million registered users.
Recent research by the sociocultural psychologist, Chana Etengoff, has highlighted the therapeutic benefits of petitioning including meaning-making, social action, agency and empowerment.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Etengoff|first=Chana|date=2016-04-04|title=Petitioning for Social Change: Letters to Religious Leaders From Gay Men and Their Family Allies|journal=Journal of Homosexuality|volume=64|issue=2|pages=166–194|doi=10.1080/00918369.2016.1174022|pmid=27046269|s2cid=40419307|issn=0091-8369}} s2cid=40419307</ref>
== See also ==
* [[w:Initiative]]
== References ==
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[[Category:Voting mechanics]]
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