Oregon IP28 Fails Final Ballot Verification After Thousands of Bad Signatures

Oregon’s IP28, also called the PEACE Act, has failed to qualify for the November 2026 ballot. The campaign turned in 142,784 signatures, but state verification found only 104,262 valid signatures. It needed 117,173. That means 38,522 signatures were tossed out as duplicate, from unregistered voters, or otherwise invalid.

That is a win for hunters, anglers, trappers, farmers, ranchers, and everyone who understands that wildlife policy should not be written by emotion-driven ballot language. IP28 was not some harmless animal welfare tune-up. If passed, it would have attacked hunting, fishing, trapping, and standard animal husbandry by trying to strip away long-standing exemptions that make legal harvest and livestock work possible.

Oregon has seen this play before. IP13, IP3, and now IP28 all came from the same basic mindset: dress up a ban as compassion, then use the ballot box to criminalize normal outdoor life and working agriculture. This round failed because the signatures did not hold up, but nobody should mistake that for the fight being over. The lead sponsor has already made it clear they see this as part of a longer campaign.

Legal hunting and fishing are not loopholes. They are regulated, funded, biologically managed uses of public wildlife resources. Trapping has a place in predator and furbearer management. Farming and ranching are not crimes because animals are part of food production.

Sportsmen should take the win and stay awake. The anti-harvest crowd is learning, organizing, and coming back every cycle with new wording and fresh money. The answer is not panic. It is staying organized, supporting the groups doing the legal work, and making sure ordinary voters understand what these measures really do before they ever see a ballot.