admin
The ballot push to ban hunting and fishing in Oregon has been stopped cold. Initiative Petition 28, known to its backers as the PEACE Act, failed the state’s signature verification and will not appear on the November ballot. That result is the big development here — not wishful headlines or breathless activism — and it deserves a straightforward response.
Signature Verification Killed IP 28
Oregon’s Elections Division finished its two-step, statistically sampled signature check and found IP 28 came up short. Supporters submitted roughly 142,000 raw signatures. After verification, only about 104,262 were valid. State law required 117,173 valid signatures to qualify. The math is simple: the petition failed the count and will not move forward this cycle.
What the PEACE Act Would Have Done
The measure’s text was broad enough to rewrite decades of law on hunting, fishing and farm practice. In plain terms, it would have removed long-standing exemptions in animal-cruelty rules and criminalized many routine activities tied to livestock, hunting and fishing. This wasn’t a narrow tweak. It would have upended how Oregoners feed their families and manage wildlife.
Reactions from Hunters, Officials and Activists
Hunters’ groups and conservation-minded organizations celebrated the result, noting that regulated hunting has long supported wildlife management and rural economies. The National Shooting Sports Foundation framed the outcome as a win for conservation and common sense. Even Governor Tina Kotek said she was relieved the petition failed and stressed the harm it could have caused to tribes, farmers and ranchers. Meanwhile, activists who backed the petition can file again later, but for now their fast march to change the law hit a wall of reality.
Why Oregon Conservatives Should Care
This is a reminder that rules and procedures matter. Signature thresholds and verification exist to stop sloppy or extreme measures from sneaking onto ballots. Conservatives and rural communities should take a short victory lap but not get complacent. Activists learned how to mobilize, and they may try again. The job now is to keep defending hunting, fishing and working lands — and to poke a little fun at the idea that policy should be made by petition purges that can’t even pass a signature check.
