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 submitted, eventually determining enough were valid for the ward to qualify towards the proponents’ tally. The delay was also prompted in part by new ward boundaries that took effect in January, shifting some voters who signed the petitions from one ward to another and complicating the board’s review.

Still, the delay was consequential, pushing the board’s ruling beyond of the time frame allowed by D.C. law for an initiative to be placed on the primary ballot, which this year is in June. Instead, it will appear on the Nov. 2 general election ballot.

Proponents expressed mixed emotions, saying they were happy to get on the ballot but unhappy with the ballot they will be appearing on. “Voters already believe this will be on the primary ballot. This is a disservice to voters,” said Ryan O’Leary, the initiative’s author.

Nikolas Schiller, another of the initiative’s proponents, said a delay in a vote would also push back the first planned increase in the tipped wage should Initiative 82 be approved by voters, which would be set for Jan. 2023. “The entire point of this ballot initiative was to be placed on the primary ballot. We are now denying voters the chance to take part in this and delaying workers’ pay raises,” he said.

O’Leary and Schiller said it was “unfair” to push the initiative to the November ballot because of what they said were errors made by the elections board. Gary Thompson, the board chair, denied that errors had been made and said the timing was determined by D.C. law.

“I wish we could have leniency here but the statutes are really clear,” he said.

Having the initiative appear on the November ballot does deal with voter confusion that was evident when Initiative 77 was voted on during the 2018 primary, though. D.C. runs closed primaries, which means that only voters who are registered with a political party can take part. That doesn’t apply to ballot initiatives though, leaving the city to tell independent voters used to not voting during a primary that they can actually vote on any initiative appearing on the ballot.

“Having initiatives on primary election ballots is so confusing for people who are not registered with a party and typically would not come vote,” tweeted Ward 7 ANC Commissioner Anthony Lorenzo Green.

The fate of Initiative 82 is also still facing challenges from the restaurant industry, much of which has been opposed to any changes to the tipped wage system. Owners and some workers say it allows workers to make more than the prevailing minimum wage of $15.20 an hour. There’s a pending challenge to some of the signatures collected in Ward 2, and even more legal action could follow that.

“Our challenge remains pending, and we will see it through,” wrote Andrew Kline, an attorney with the Veritas law firm, in an email. “If this matter is to be on the ballot, it is appropriate that it be on the general election ballot, when all D.C. voters, including independents and Republicans, have reason to come out and vote.”