![Members of Raise Up Cleveland at Cleveland City Hall on August 11. [photo: Matt Richmond / ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/168cdfa/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1000x696+0+0/resize/840x584!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F8%2F11%2Fwage%20rally.jpg)
As they’ve said all along, the labor-backed group Raise Up Cleveland won’t rely just on city council to pass an increased minimum wage…now they’re thinking ballot. After Wednesday night’s Cleveland City Council vote against a fifteen dollar minimum wage, the main group pushing for the measure will take its proposal to the voters.
It’s not clear when a ballot initiative will reach voters. But it is clear when organizers want to see it there.
“On the November ballot," says Kate Harshman, lawyer for Raise Up Cleveland. “It’s going on the ballot regardless it’s just which year it’s going on.” (0:03)
The group will likely miss the ballot deadline for this November’s election. But they’re challenging that in state court. Organizers also have ten days to decide whether to send the original proposal to voters or an amended version that increases the minimum wage incrementally. A majority of councilmembers opposed any increase because of concerns that a Cleveland-only ordinance would hurt the city’s economy.
