The secession petitions are symbolic. They are merely a public statement of the peoples dissatisfaction. All involved realize that.

No one who signed those petitions cares if the government "has their name". Many of us down South have been on their list for years because we belong to a group that's on the governments "subversive organization" list. Guess what? None of us give a shit what the empire thinks.

Real secession begins at home, with the individual. Don't expect your State to secede if you're too lazy to exit the matrix yourself.