Limits Lead in All 33 Clear Data-⁠Center Ballot Results

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 4 — OfOf the 41 local ballot questions on data centers that voters answered on Tuesday, 33 had unofficial results by early Wednesday whose meaning was clear, in Ballotpedia’s table or in local reports, and in all 33 the side favoring limits was ahead. Voters approved bans, moratoriums and new conditions on big developments, and turned down every one of those 33 that would have allowed or endorsed data centers.

Ohio had 21 of the questions, more than any other state. All 11 that would ban data centers there, outright or above a certain size, passed, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer and WTVG in Toledo. The closest result anywhere was in Grove City, where Issue 28, requiring a citywide vote on the largest developments, passed with 54.61 percent on unofficial Franklin County figures, WOSU reported. Its mayor, Richard “Ike” Stage, conceded. “It’s unfortunate to those who want to sell their property,” he told The Columbus Dispatch.

By state, the 33 questions were 15 in Ohio, seven in Illinois, four in Maine, two in Kansas and one each in California, Florida, Nevada, New Jersey and Wisconsin. Four had no count reported: Ottawa, Kan.; Harwood, N.D.; and Monroe and Sprigg townships in Adams County, Ohio. This paper also leaves out Wilmington, Ohio’s four referendums on rezonings for one data-center project: the Enquirer reported that “around 80% of voters rejected rezoning,” but Ballotpedia’s table labels the same share as votes to uphold them.The CountA question counts for limits when voters approved a ban, moratorium or restriction, or rejected one that would have allowed or endorsed data centers, Ballotpedia’s own test. Its table gives no time and has Granville, Ohio, the wrong way round; this paper uses the Newark Advocate’s final unofficial count, 2,015 for the ban to 429.

The Projects

In Trenton, where Issue 17 passed with 80 percent on unofficial Butler County figures, WVXU reported that the ban “blocks plans for Trenton to annex land for a 1,000-megawatt Amazon data center and puts into question the future of a 250-megawatt facility currently being built by Prologis in the city’s industrial park.” The Enquirer was more cautious: the city withdrew its annexation petition in September, and because the ban covers only land within city limits, the Amazon project “could move forward on the land if it remains part of the rural townships.” A St. Clair Township resolution to ban data centers goes to a Butler County hearing on Nov. 10, the paper reported.

Trenton has said the data centers would bring residents a one-year elimination of its general-fund property tax and millions of dollars for Edgewood City Schools, WVXU reported, and Issue 17 faced opposition from a group funded by outside interests, including the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and Prologis. “I think we need the data centers,” Daniel Davis, 76, told the Enquirer. Barry Blankenship, a leader of the group that gathered signatures for the ban, read it the other way. “We’re just another statistic that proves the citizens do not want them, even though city governments and these big businesses want to come into these little communities and roll over us, thinking we’re just going to sit back and take it,” he said, as reported by WVXU.

We’re just another statistic that proves the citizens do not want them, even though city governments and these big businesses want to come into these little communities and roll over us, thinking we’re just going to sit back and take it.

In Ashville, where the Dispatch says EdgeConneX “wants to build an 800 megawatt data center on 195 acres,” voters rejected the council’s term summary with the company, 1,469 to 331 in Ballotpedia’s table. “Do you think they’re going to just walk away?” the village administrator, Bert Cline, had asked earlier, as quoted by the Dispatch.

Outside Ohio, the widest margin was in Morgan County, Ill., where 88 percent advised restrictions. In Boulder City, Nev., where a yes would have allowed data centers in the Eldorado Valley Transfer Area, 70.51 percent voted no, 4,710 to 1,970, on Clark County’s results page as this paper read it at 5:25 a.m. Eastern; the page gives no update time. A candidate did worse: in Box Elder County, Utah, Alan Williams, who called himself “the only anti-data center candidate on the ballot,” had 37.4 percent for a commission seat in early, unofficial returns as of about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Mountain time, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The Regulators

Democrats are on course to hold a majority on Georgia’s Public Service Commission, which regulates Georgia Power, for the first time in 20 years, starting next year, the Georgia Recorder reported, citing unofficial results as of late Tuesday night. This paper saw no Associated Press call. Peter Hubbard, one of the two Democrats leading, had said at an Atlanta Press Club debate, according to the Recorder, that he would work “to lower folks’ power bills using clean energy and make sure that we’re holding data centers accountable.”Elected RegulatorsGeorgia’s commission became all-Republican in 2007; Democrats won back two seats in a 2025 special election, the Recorder reported. Louisiana is one of 10 states that choose utility regulators by partisan election, WWNO reported. Arizona’s Corporation Commission race was “still too close to call,” with Democrats leading for two seats as of 2:04 a.m. Arizona time, KJZZ reported. In Louisiana, a final vote on Meta’s Hyperion project with Entergy is expected at the commission’s Nov. 18 meeting, before the members elected on Tuesday are sworn in, WWNO reported.

In Effingham County, Ga., commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday night to table OpenAI’s site plan for Project Camellia, six data-center buildings on about 1,347 acres, until Nov. 17, and a commissioner said the board would discuss a data-center moratorium at its next meeting, the Effingham Herald reported.

More votes are coming: Clarksville, Ark., decides on Dec. 1 whether to uphold an ordinance authorizing up to $50 billion of bonds for a data center, Mandan, N.D., on Dec. 15 whether to bar those of 25 megawatts or more, and Heath and Johnstown, Ohio, expect special elections early next year. Conserve Ohio is seeking a statewide ban on data centers above 25 megawatts through a constitutional amendment in 2027, the Newark Advocate reported.