LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Some might say the notion is almost absurd, modern states separating from the national government. But online petitions on a government linked website with thousands of signatures, wanting that very thing, makes you wonder, what kind of an effect, if any could they have.

Tens of thousands of online signatures from more than a dozen states have appeared on the We the People website after the election.
Kentucky is on that list, having garnered more than ten thousands signatures already.

And they're not just from people in the state. They are from all over from as far away as California.
We wanted to get the perspective of a local historian on whether or not these online signatures would make a difference and achieve their goal other than just creating controversy.
Here's what he had to say.

"This isn't going anywhere, and petitioning president Obama, he doesn't have the power even if he wanted to, to let anybody secede. So I believe this is a way of letting off frustration and it's not going to happen," said Ron Formisano, William T. Bryan Chair in History at the University of Kentucky.

So far Texas is the only state that had met the minimum signature requirement before the deadline.