The D.C. Board of Elections ruled Wednesday that an initiative that would phase out the tipped wage in the city can appear on the ballot, potentially leaving voters to decide the hotly debated issue for the second time in four years.

But while proponents wanted the vote to happen as soon as the June 21 primary, the board instead said it would have to happen in November. And legal challenges from the restaurant industry could still imperil the initiative’s fate.

If approved by voters, what’s come to be known as Initiative 82 would phase out the sub-minimum wage of $5.05 paid to tipped workers in restaurants, nail salons, and parking lots, and instead require employers to pay them the prevailing minimum wage, currently $15.20 an hour. Voters approved a similar initiative in 2018, but it was overturned by the D.C. Council.

The board found that the D.C. Committee to Build a Better Restaurant Industry collected 27,026 valid signatures from registered voters in D.C., exceeding what’s required by law — signatures from 5% of voters — by 802. They also surpassed a separate threshold of gathering signatures from 5% of voters in five of the city’s eight wards, achieving it in wards 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 while falling short in wards 5, 7, and 8.

The ruling was delayed by almost two weeks, though, largely because board staff could not determine if enough signatures had been collected in Ward 6 when they analyzed multiple samples. Instead, the board opted to review all the signatures...

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