White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian

The White House today announced that it will distribute tickets for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll online for the first time, doing away with the decades-old tradition of Washington families who line up for hours on the Ellipse the weekend before the event to receive their tickets.

A press release from the White House cited a desire for “more children and families from across the United States (to) have the opportunity to experience this event” as a reason for the ticketing change. Tickets will be available through www.whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll beginning on Thursday, March 26 — no time has been announced for when the tickets will become available that day.

This is a fine idea, but it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where many of the tickets will be snatched up on a whim by individuals who either won’t realistically be able to attend, or hope they’ll be able to resell the free tickets to someone else. Then again, this year’s Easter Egg Roll is planned to be a much bigger event than ever before, and the Obama family’s plan to give attendees from outside the city a guaranteed spot early enough so that they can plan trips to Washington is certainly intriguing.

The Egg Roll has been set for Monday, April 13, 2009, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the South Lawn of the White House.