A ballot initiative that would vastly expand animal rights in Oregon failed the first review of voter signatures — but it’s not dead yet.
Even backers of Initiative Petition 28, which would make hunting, fishing and slaughtering livestock a crime, don’t expect voters to approve it.
Instead, they see this as one step in a long journey.
FILE - Cows poke their heads out from gates at a dairy farm in Tillamook, Ore., in this Feb. 19, 2020, file photo. Initiative Petition 28 would outlaw many practices core to the dairy sector, including breeding cattle.
Bradley W. Parks / OPB
“This is our third attempt to get on the ballot,” said David Michelson, one of the petition’s sponsors. “We got 2,000 signatures the first time, then about 40,000 signatures the second time, and now 140,000 signatures. So each time we are growing in our support.”
But, as Willamette Week first reported, in an initial, small, sample of voter signatures, only 80% were deemed valid. If that math persists when the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office conducts a larger survey of signatures, Initiative Petition 28 will fall short of the roughly 117,000 verified signatures it needs to qualify for the November ballot.
That larger signature review is under way, Secretary of State’s Office spokesperson Connor Radnovich said in an email. He was not able to estimate how long that review might take.
With every initiative, some signatures are declared invalid. A signer might not be registered to vote in Oregon, for example. Or a person might sign the same petition twice, which isn’t allowed. Petitions for recent initiatives that have qualified for Oregon’s statewide ballots all gave themselves large cushions, submitting more than 160,000 signatures apiece.
With only about 140,000 signatures, Michelson acknowledged IP 28 was “on the lower end of things.”
“It is still possible for us both to qualify, or to not qualify. So we will wait for that determination,” he said.
Despite its long odds, the initiative has raised alarm bells from across the political spectrum. It would outlaw large-scale dairies, egg farms and livestock breeding, as well as fatal mouse and rat traps — and would threaten Oregon icons like the Tillamook Creamery and put an end to a commercial fishing sector that harvested $223.3 million last year.
The proposal’s sweeping impacts prompted pushback from an unlikely alliance including Oregon Democrats, hunting groups, the state cattlemen’s association and agricultural groups.
Michelson said he knows current voters will reject IP 28 if they get the chance — but he and other initiative backers see it as part of a generations-long push they’re engaged in to shift attitudes about the killing of animals.
Correction: This story’s headline has been edited to remove a reference to banning dairies and rat traps, which would be limited but not banned under IP 28. OPB regrets the error.
