ePetitions: Pro-Drilling Petition reached more than 1 m signatures in the US

As PoliticsOnline reported the online pro-drilling petition which President Bush and Sen. McCain recently endorsed, has generated more traffic than the anti-McCain ad published by MoveOn.org. The Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less online petition urges the U.S. Congress to “act immediately to lower gasoline prices (and diesel and other fuel prices) by authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions Group has figured out how to run a successful viral campaign, offering its supporters an investment widget, a petition widget, an option to endorse the campaign on your site, banners supporting the movement, a YouTube campaign site, a Solutions lab, and an “action pack” which includes a printable version of the ‘Drill Now’ petition. So far, over 73,000 people have made online donations to fuel the ‘Drill Now’ petition. All of the supporters receive a free bumper sticker, which helps spread the virtual movement offline.

ePetitions – although reaching incredibly high numbers of participants – have been criticised for different reason. As Fraser has been pointing out in this blog “there is concern that such exercises in eDemocracy are nothing more than an electronic registering of dislike. Equally that, contrary to claims of engaging with the public, online petitions could, in the words of one Parliamentarian, ‘produce disaffection, as people register their dislike … and then nothing happens’”.

The pro-drilling campaign is different in that it demands concrete action instead of just registering complaints. At the same time this case demonstrates that ePetitions can be used very well as an efficient tool for top down initiated political campaigns. Is this still considered eParticipation?

Tags: eParticipation, ePetitions, US