California Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced last month that a measure to increase the state’s minimum wage to $18 an hour failed to qualify for the November 2022 ballot. Now, advocates of the proposal are suing her.

Entrepreneur Joseph Sanberg and Orange County Democratic Party Chair Ada Briceno argued in a Thursday filing in Sacramento Superior Court that they received over one million signatures, more than enough to secure a spot on the ballot. California law requires proponents to submit signatures well in advance so that county election officials can verify a random sample by June 30. The $18 an hour proposition missed this mark, instead qualifying for the 2024 ballot earlier this week.

But Sanberg and Briceno allege that COVID-19 conditions impeded their ability to quickly gather signatures. They also blame Weber for failing to communicate to counties, which are tasked with certifying signatures, that the initiative was meant for the 2022 — not the 2024 ballot.

Because petitioners were late presenting their signatures, it wasn’t until May 31 that Weber told county election officials to verify them. At the time, Weber gave officials 30 working days, or until July 13, to complete verification.

That would’ve been fine if the petitioners were trying to put the measure before voters in 2024. Weber neglected to mention, Sanberg and Briceno say, that they were trying for placement on the 2022 ballot, and so their real deadline was June 30.

“The Secretary of State’s...

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