Ohio voters pass at least 14 data center bans in local ballots

Ohio's ballot results arrive against a backdrop of existing local resistance: the state already has 125 local data center moratoriums in place, and voters across 18 municipalities weighed 21 measures on Tuesday. The measures ranged from outright bans on large campuses using more than 25 megawatts to requirements that developers offer financial guarantees before receiving tax breaks, as in Perry, where more than 87% of voters approved such a measure. In Trenton, a ban passed 80% to 20%, with organizers hoping to keep an 18-building Amazon Web Services data center out of the city, though it likely won't affect a four-building AWS campus already under construction nearby. The votes also included Wilmington, where around 80% of voters rejected rezoning across four separate referendums meant to accommodate a data center project, and Ashville, where residents voted in favor of entirely blocking a campus already under construction. These local outcomes could foreshadow how voters nationwide respond to AI infrastructure expansion, and how statehouses and private-sector stakeholders adjust their approaches, according to Keith Durkin of Ohio Northern University's Institute for Civics and Public Policy.