A petition is a written request or call for change signed by many people in support of a shared cause or concern. (Petition is also a legal term which means to formally ask a court for something, but we're talking about the first definition, here.)

Anyone or any group can start, pass around, and fill up a petition - most of which do not have any force of mandate, but which can be an effective way to communicate our concerns to our public officials.

However, in Massachusetts, certain kinds of petitions CAN have a fairly quick effect on lawmaking and policy - these are the State Ballot Questions Petitions:

• File an INITIATIVE PETITION FOR A LAW to submit a proposed law to the voters for their approval or rejection or to repeal or amend a particular section of an existing law.
• File an INITIATIVE PETITION FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT to submit a proposed constitutional amendment to the voters for approval or rejection.
• File a REFERENDUM PETITION to have a law recently enacted by the General Court repealed by the voters.
• File a PUBLIC POLICY PETITION to submit instructions to the senator or representative from a district on a non-binding question of public policy.

Interesting, eh?  Did you know that we citizens had this option for a much more 'direct democracy' effort, that we might be able undo actions done by our elected officials, or force certain actions if we're not happy with how they've been representing us in a specific matter?

• Interested in Massachusetts' past Ballot Questions?  Read about them here.
• Curious about what kinds of Ballot measures have been happening in the other 49 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands? Find out about them in the Statewide Ballot Measures Database from the National Conference of State Legislatures