bytes and ballots

There's an article in the Times of India, "Interent reinvents politics of petitions." The article argues that from West Virginia to India, the Internet is changing how petitions are being circulated and publicized. Interestingly, the story mentions two petition-collection websites (petitiononline.com and petitionthem.com) that are worth checking out.

Next question: will websites like these be used in the near future for collecting signatures for initiatives, referendum and recalls in American states that have relatively frequent use of these instruments of direct democracy (like California)? Proponents of ballot measures do use the Internet to get the word out, and to distribute petitions. But I'm not aware of any American states or lower-level election jurisdictions that currently allow the return of signed electronic ballot measure petitions. (Of course if readers have information to the contrary, please send it along and I'll post it here).