Citizens in Charge

Collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures to place an initiative on the ballot is a tough task that may get easier in the future. A company in Silicon Valley recently unveiled a new smart-phone application that would allow a citizen to sign a petition electronically. Instead of signing a petition in a grocery store parking lot, a citizen could sign it in the comfort of their own home.

This has raised legal questions of course, and California state officials will need to figure out if signing a petition via phone complies with the law.