The company that expected to get paid for automating the fleecing of Cleveland drivers has been left holding the bag after voters there overwhelmingly turned down a proposal that would have continued the use of traffic cameras.

Now that company wants its money — including the part that was left on its remaining contract, which has gone unfulfilled in the wake of the resounding “no” vote.

Xerox Corp. (yes, the Xerox Corp.) filed suit against the city on Aug. 25, claiming an unspecified amount for the 29 months remaining on its outstanding contract. “It also says,” according to Cleveland.com, “that at the time the city stopped paying, its monthly fees — based on the number of operational cameras — totaled $303,670.

“The lawsuit also claims that the city has a ‘surplus’ of more than $9 million from traffic camera revenue.”

The suit alleges that city officials never took advantage of the termination clause written into its original contract and that Cleveland leaders simply told Xerox they were done paying the monthly fees.

Under the voter-backed change, the city gave up its power to use traffic cameras for traffic enforcement and ticketing, according to the report, “unless a law enforcement officer is present at the location of the device and personally issues a ticket to the alleged violator at the time and date of the violation.”

In Cleveland, Xerox was reportedly running 44 red light cameras, as well as another 19 speed cams.

It’s little wonder that voters rejected the continued use of camera enforcement; it’s something “voters do,” Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds observes, “pretty much everywhere they get to vote on it.”