Hunting and Fishing Ban Fails to Make November Ballot ⁠40%

By Aaron Mesh⁠76%

7/24/2026, 4:56:14 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 23 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, In-Group Bias, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 36.5% saturation with 107 hits. Analysis detected 690 faulty-reasoning hits from 293 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 44.9% and a BS Rank of ⁠40% (13,251 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 60.50% of the article peer group.

Initiative Petition 28, an animal rights measure 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 contributions 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.” 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 6.6%Willamette Week: 2.8%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 3.8%Aaron Mesh: 0.4%Willamette Week: 1.5%Anchoring Bias3.8%This article: 6.5%Aaron Mesh: 3.8%Willamette Week: 2.8%Availability Heuristic6.5%This article: 5.1%Aaron Mesh: 0.3%Willamette Week: 0.7%Representativeness Heuristic5.1%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 1.0%Willamette Week: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 5.3%Willamette Week: 2.2%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 8.9%Aaron Mesh: 2.0%Willamette Week: 4.0%Framing Effect8.9%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.6%Willamette Week: 1.8%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 4.8%Aaron Mesh: 0.5%Willamette Week: 0.9%Status Quo Bias4.8%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.6%Willamette Week: 0.4%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 7.2%Aaron Mesh: 0.5%Willamette Week: 2.0%Optimism Bias7.2%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 1.0%Willamette Week: 1.7%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 36.5%Aaron Mesh: 9.5%Willamette Week: 6.9%Negativity Bias36.5%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 1.1%Willamette Week: 1.0%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 1.4%Willamette Week: 0.9%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 1.0%Willamette Week: 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 19.1%Aaron Mesh: 1.3%Willamette Week: 1.0%In-Group Bias19.1%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.6%Willamette Week: 0.4%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 7.2%Aaron Mesh: 2.8%Willamette Week: 1.8%Halo Effect7.2%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.0%Willamette Week: 0.0%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.0%Willamette Week: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 5.1%Aaron Mesh: 1.0%Willamette Week: 1.0%Recency Bias5.1%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.7%Willamette Week: 0.6%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.0%Willamette Week: 0.3%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.8%Willamette Week: 0.4%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 9.2%Aaron Mesh: 0.6%Willamette Week: 0.2%Straw Man9.2%This article: 6.1%Aaron Mesh: 3.6%Willamette Week: 3.2%Appeal to Authority6.1%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.7%Willamette Week: 0.8%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 5.8%Aaron Mesh: 2.8%Willamette Week: 1.4%Slippery Slope5.8%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.2%Willamette Week: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 6.5%Aaron Mesh: 11.6%Willamette Week: 5.2%Hasty Generalization6.5%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.0%Willamette Week: 0.1%Red Herring0.0%This article: 7.2%Aaron Mesh: 0.2%Willamette Week: 0.3%Bandwagon7.2%This article: 11.9%Aaron Mesh: 7.0%Willamette Week: 4.7%Appeal to Emotion11.9%This article: 4.8%Aaron Mesh: 1.6%Willamette Week: 0.7%Begging the Question4.8%This article: 14.3%Aaron Mesh: 5.0%Willamette Week: 1.9%Post Hoc (False Cause)14.3%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.2%Willamette Week: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.3%Willamette Week: 0.2%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.2%Willamette Week: 0.3%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 1.0%Willamette Week: 0.4%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 6.5%Aaron Mesh: 1.5%Willamette Week: 0.9%Anecdotal6.5%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.0%Willamette Week: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 1.5%Willamette Week: 1.6%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.0%Willamette Week: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.2%Willamette Week: 0.4%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.0%Willamette Week: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.0%Willamette Week: 0.0%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.0%Willamette Week: 0.0%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 1.0%Willamette Week: 1.5%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 5.1%Aaron Mesh: 0.2%Willamette Week: 0.9%Quote-first Misdirection5.1%This article: 35.2%Aaron Mesh: 6.5%Willamette Week: 5.0%Biased Writer Voice35.2%This article: 4.4%Aaron Mesh: 2.1%Willamette Week: 2.0%Indoctrination4.4%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 0.3%Willamette Week: 0.7%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 14.3%Aaron Mesh: 0.7%Willamette Week: 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias14.3%This article: 0.0%Aaron Mesh: 2.7%Willamette Week: 1.1%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

293 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers39%attributed speech180writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 9 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 38 words • 100.0% coverageOregon Secretary of State Tobias Read’s office • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageElections Division • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageElections Division • 15 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 42 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 7 words • 0.0% coverageTina Kotek • 13 words • 100.0% coverageTina Kotek • 14 words • 0.0% coverageTina Kotek • 19 words • 0.0% coverageTina Kotek • 21 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Tina Kotek

100%flagged-word coverage
67 attributed words59% of attributed speech88% writer coverage
0%25.0%50.0%Biased Writer Voice-14.2 ptsWriter: 45.6%Tina Kotek: 31.3%31.3%Politically Right Leaning -23.3 ptsWriter: 23.3%Tina Kotek: 0.0%0.0%Indoctrination+19.4 ptsWriter: 0.0%Tina Kotek: 19.4%19.4%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

Loading…
Loading…
Loading…

Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.