Let It Bern: Numerous Petitions Pop Up Online For Bernie Sanders To Continue His Run For President As Democratic Or Independent Nominee

With the passing of the 2016 California presidential primary election, many believe that Hillary Clinton is well on her way to being the Democratic Party nominee. There are also those who feel as if Bernie Sanders still has a chance at that nomination, especially with so many votes still uncounted from that primary. Others feel that Sanders is best poised to run as an independent candidate, and numerous petitions have been started encouraging him to do so.

Sanders was hoping that things would go differently in California this past Tuesday, but Clinton pulled ahead and is already being declared the winner in that state. While many votes are still to be counted (or found), experts believe they would not end up changing how things currently stand and that Clinton would still end up taking California.

As Clinton essentially solidifies herself as the Democratic nominee, the number of Sanders’ supporters continues to grow and they are having their voices heard. Numerous, and almost countless, petitions are popping up online to get Bernie Sanders to run as an independent candidate.

Bernie Sanders: Bernie – Please Run No Matter What – Sign the Petition! https://t.co/1KTYVtINCU via @Change

— Kansas BernieOrBust (@rjhenning2016) June 10, 2016

The “Bernie – Please Run No Matter What” petition has 20,879 supporters as of late on Friday evening as they approach their goal of 25,000. Signatures on the petition started out rather slow, but things have really picked up in the past couple of weeks.

“This petition urges you to run for President of the United States no matter what the outcome of the Democratic National Convention in July.”

That petition is far from the only one that is looking to encourage Bernie Sanders to run as an independent candidate in November. The #Movement4Bernie petition is rolling along at an alarming pace and now has more than 92,000 signatures, and it is jumping by the hundreds every couple of minutes.

#Movement4Bernie believes that Sanders should not give his backing and support to Clinton, but run independently against her and Donald Trump. As reported by CNN, Sanders may be saying that the end of his campaign is near, but his supporters are not yet ready to concede defeat.

Since you’re still up, sign this petition for @BernieSanders to launch a new party of the 99% https://t.co/EEplTP8i4p

— Vote Sawant (@VoteSawant) June 10, 2016

The “Let It Bern” petition was attempting to reach their goal of 10,000 signatures, and they have actually now done it. Now, that may not be overly shocking, but the impressive thing is that the goal was met in just a mere 20 hours.

Not only does that petition have people signing their names, but they also give their thoughts and hopeful encouragement to Bernie Sanders. They believe that “every vote should count,” and that includes those who still want to vote for Sanders even if he doesn’t win the Democratic nomination.

One of the most recent petitions to pop up is one that is called “It’s Not Too Late!” and it is aimed at The Green Party. They don’t believe that the Democratic Convention needs to be shut down or have a “messy” example made of it, but they feel as if they can make a difference and stop Hillary Clinton by having Sanders run as an independent candidate.

As of this writing on Friday evening, the petition has just 43 signatures but it is rather new. It will likely be just a matter of time until this one goes viral through social media and also starts making a lot of noise.

The petition even has ideas as to how Sanders can make a great run at the presidency, and declares again how he stands for the people.

“Jill Stein can be Bernie’s running mate on the Green Party line, and if he gets the Democratic nomination, he can have a different running mate of his choosing on that ticket. For better or worse, he doesn’t represent everything the Greens stand for, but his presence on the Green ticket will help Greens, Democrats and independents alike build the political revolution he’s been calling for.”

Chances are that these won’t be the last of the petitions started to get Bernie Sanders to continue his run.

Bernie Sanders may very well be out of the race for the Democratic Party nomination, but he’s certainly not done in the race for President of the United States. He’s vowed to work side-by-side with Hillary Clinton to keep Donald Trump out of the White House, but Sanders very well could do it himself. If he listens to the petitions to run as an independent candidate, it could very well end up a three-person race later this year.

[Photo by Theo Stroomer/Getty Images]