Grassroots Petition Urging Governors to ‘Reopen Their States’ Tops 100,000 Signatures

A petition launched in late April by Heritage Action for America asking governors to “open American society” has surpassed 100,000 signatures.

“Millions of Americans are losing their jobs for good as businesses shut down around the country, even while the risk of COVID-19 is decreasing in many areas,” Jessica Anderson, executive director of Heritage Action for America, told The Daily Signal in a statement.

“The American people recognize this economic destruction and have a tremendous appetite to reopen their states,” she added.

The unemployment rate nationally has reached 14.7%, according to a May 8 report from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

>>> When can America reopen? The National Coronavirus Recovery Commission, a project of The Heritage Foundation, is gathering America’s top thinkers together to figure that out. Learn more here.

Anderson said that the grassroots activists of Heritage Action, the lobbying arm of The Heritage Foundation, “have amplified this message throughout their communities, and more than 100,000 Americans have added their voice and signed our Open American Society Petition.”

“Thanks in part to those efforts, more than 30 states have already begun to reopen and recover, and more will join them in the coming weeks,” she added.

The petition says that Americans should “be free to travel, and governors should only implement stay-in-place orders in a targeted manner to address a specific, local need.”

It also maintains that businesses should be open and that “governors should apply limited restrictions only where COVID-19 incidences are high,” adding, “Americans should be responsible for getting themselves tested as needed, and governors should ensure testing is targeted to specific outbreaks.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t need nationwide, one-size-fits-all solutions,” Anderson said, adding:

As the National Coronavirus Recovery Commission has said, the disease affects different parts of the country very differently.

That’s why we have pushed for local solutions for local problems. We hope more communities listen.

Heritage Action, in its press release, is calling on public officials to follow the recommendations of the National Coronavirus Recovery Commission. The commission to date has offered 179 in-depth policy recommendations to help state and local governments open safely and speedily.

Heritage Action says it’s planning on delivering the petition to the National Governors Association and elected leaders in Washington.