CASE STUDY: Ballot Measure 38: Don’t Fence Oregon

In the spring of 1996 a coalition of natural resource-based organizations hired Pac/West to develop and implement a campaign against Ballot Measure 38 in Oregon. BM 38 sought to require private landowners to fence their property in order to keep livestock away from all streams and bodies of water.

Oregonians have been able to use federal and state lands for generations to hunt and fish and have camped on private property owned by ranchers and farmers all over the state. Often, all it took to gain access to private property was a knock on the door. If BM 38 were passed, hunters, fishermen, campers, hikers and others who used animals for riding or packing would no longer have been able to access public lands.

A month and a half before Election Day, The Oregonian’s pollster forecasted Measure 38 passing by a 50 percent to 38 percent margin. Pac/West conducted statewide polling to develop a campaign strategy and targeted messaging. The execution of our strategy included direct mail, editorial board visits, print ads, radio, advertising, presentations, releases and development of earned media opportunities. Letters to the editor from the coalition were printed in publications statewide.

Ballot Measure 38 was defeated by a 64 percent to 36 percent margin. Every targeted newspaper in the state that editorialized on BM 38 (more than 35) opposed the issue with the exception of two; and every statewide elected official, and nearly all of the local politicians, opposed Ballot Measure 38.