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Initiative Petition 28, an animal rights proposal that sought to criminalize hunting, fishing, ranching and pest control in Oregon, has failed to make the November ballot after state election officials say it failed two rounds of signature verification.
Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read’s office announced the disqualification late Friday afternoon.
The IP 28 campaign submitted 142,784 signatures on July 2. To qualify for the ballot, the petition needed 117,173 verified signatures. That would require 82% of the submitted signatures to be valid. On two rounds of testing, the Elections Division said, sample batches of signatures failed to meet that threshold. (WW reported the first failure on July 16.)
The Elections Division said that just 104,262 of the submitted signatures, or 73.25%, were valid.
The initiative petition, submitted by a Portland substitute teacher, would have classified any killing of an animal in Oregon except in self-defense as a Class A misdemeanor. That would have effectively outlawed hunting, fishing, slaughtering livestock for meat, or killing rats or other pests.
As the initiative, backed by large donations from animal rights groups, moved closer to the ballot, it became a political liability for Oregon Democrats, who denounced it but still saw Republicans try to tar them with it as election season ramped up.
Shortly after the Elections Division announcement, Gov. Tina Kotek issued a statement saying she was “relieved” by the petition’s failure.
“Efforts to criminalize activities like hunting and fishing are wrong for Oregon,” Kotek said. “I know from conversations with Oregonians across the state that this measure would have done nothing to help them. This is a win for tribal leaders, family farmers, ranchers, and every Oregonian who cares about protecting our lands and wildlife.”
