Budget cuts, drones, Jurassic Park: Serious and silly petitions at whitehouse.gov

"Our legislative process has become hijacked by the perverting influence of money," a March 8 petition said. "It is clear that our legislators will never vote themselves off the Gravy Train. Because of this, there should be a national referendum to introduce mandatory public funding of all campaigns for office."

Congress created the public funding program for use in presidential elections, in the hopes of reducing the role of large private contributions, the Federal Elections Commission website said.

The petition would seek to extend that financing to House and Senate elections as well.

In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama became the first major party candidate to reject public financing and the spending limits that came with it. The decision allowed the campaign to raise hundreds of millions of additional dollars, The New York Times reported.