A petition to the White House for North Carolina to secede from the United States has 27,669 signatures from citizens, as of press time.

Every state except Vermont has started a petition. However, seven states have over 25,000 signatures, as of press time, according to petitions.whitehouse.gov. Any petition with over 25,000 signatures will get a formal response from the Obama Administration.

The website lists Randy D. from Pittsboro as the creator of the petition for the Tar Heel State’s secession.

However, for a secession to happen, it would have to be decided by the state legislature, not citizens, political science professor Adam Newmark said.

“It’s just a bunch of people who aren’t happy with the election results,” he said.

Newmark said in most states, it’s just a “handful” of people who are upset about the election results.

It would be difficult for a state after it secedes, since the “vast majority” of states currently trying to secede receive more federal funding than they give in taxes, Newmark said.

“People will grumble for a few months but then this will die down,” he said.

The biggest issue for a state that seceded would be allocating things within the state, Newmark said.

“This is just so ludicrouss, it’s not going to happen,” he said.

Political science professor Brian Ellison, said he too believes a succession is not possible.

“North Carolina would have to defeat the U.S. military to secede,” Ellison said. “That’s the model and precedence set.”

Vice Chair of the College Republicans Wesley Gwinn said, in his opinion, he could understand the sentiment and anger felt by the creators of the petitions, but doesn’t think seceding is the
correct answer.

“Not only is it unconstitutional in the state constitution, but it’s not the right way to approach this,” Gwinn said. “It hides real solutions we could be getting to. It diverts from addressing the actual problem with an extreme approach.”

Sophomore psychology major Evan Sakrison said even though he supports government at the state level, he does not agree with the petition.

“I find it hilariously ridiculous that states are attempting to secede from the union, especially after Obama’s re-election,” Sakrison said. “It completely deviates from people’s cries for ‘unity.'”

Story: CHELSEY FISHER, News Editor and STEPHANIE SANSOUCY, Senior News Reporter

Graphic: MALIK RAHILI, Graphics Editor