A proposed initiative that would let voters decide whether to eliminate the tipped wage in D.C. remains in limbo as election officials scramble to check whether it will qualify for the June 21 ballot. The initiative’s fate hangs on the signatures of just over 120 voters in a single ward.
The unexpected and densely technical drama played out over the course of Thursday, when the D.C. Board of Elections was scheduled to issue a simple ruling on whether the D.C. Committee to Build a Better Restaurant Industry collected signatures from at least 5% of registered voters citywide and from 5% of voters in five of the city’s eight wards — the legal requirement to place any initiative on the ballot.
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.
The board was quickly able to determine on Thursday morning that the initiative’s proponents had met the 5% threshold for signatures from registered voters across the city.
But when it came to signatures gathered from voters in the wards, they were only meeting that same threshold in three — 1, 3, and 4 — with two remaining inconclusive. Later in the afternoon, officials determined a fourth ward, Ward 2, qualified, but by evening board members said an analysis of a sample of voter signatures from Ward 6 had not...
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