Ohio votes to ban or limit data centers in at least 14 towns
Voters in at least 14 Ohio towns approved bans or new limits on data centers in the midterm elections on Nov. 3.
Ohio held 21 of the 41 data-center measures on ballots across the country, Fortune reports. The votes took place across 18 municipalities.
Ten towns banned large data centers outright, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports: Conneaut, Defiance, Granville, Hubbard, Pataskala, Piqua, Sunbury, Trenton, Upper Sandusky, and Urbana. Notably, most of the bans apply only to sites that draw more than 25 megawatts of power.
Four other towns passed new limits:
- Ashville: almost 82% voted to undo the village's agreement with EdgeConneX on two data centers. Construction has already started, and NBC4 reports the vote will not stop it.
- Grove City: 55% voted to require a public vote on large projects, including data centers drawing over 20 megawatts.
- Perry: more than 87% voted to make developers that want tax breaks give the village financial guarantees.
- Wilmington: about 80% rejected, in four referendums, rezoning land for a planned data center.
Trenton's ban passed with 80% of the vote in unofficial Butler County results, WVXU reports. It puts in question a 250-megawatt data center that Prologis (PLD) is building in Trenton's industrial park.
The vote also calls into question an Amazon (AMZN) campus planned just outside the city. Trenton dropped its bid to annex that land in September, so the ban doesn't apply, the Enquirer says. But St. Clair Township's zoning commission voted on Oct. 13 to bar data centers, and Butler County will hold a hearing on that change on Nov. 10.
In Sunbury, the ban was aimed at a possible large Amazon project, whose future is now unclear, NBC4 reports.
Ohio has more than 200 operating data centers, and state data show up to $40B of planned AI infrastructure investment there by 2030, Fortune reports.
Tax breaks are the next fight. Democrat Sherrod Brown, who beat Republican Senator Jon Husted on Tuesday, has called for ending tax breaks for data centers and making the companies pay their own utility bills. Husted backed the tax breaks.
The pushback was national. Across the US, 33 local measures limiting data centers had passed or were ahead late Tuesday, Stateline reports. Only one result, in North Dakota, went the industry's way.
All Ohio results are unofficial until county boards certify them. Oregon, Monroeville, and two townships in Adams County had not reported results yet, the Enquirer says.
A statewide ban has also been proposed. In an October poll of Ohio adults by Ohio Northern University and SurveyUSA, 57% would support amending the state constitution to ban new data centers above 25 megawatts.
Sources & Further Reading
- "Ohio already has 125 local data center moratoriums. Early results from its 21 ballot measures on AI infrastructure have determined there will be more." Fortune. November 4, 2026.
- "Ohioans overwhelmingly pass data center bans, restrictions on ballot." The Cincinnati Enquirer. November 4, 2026.
- "Columbus-area communities reject data centers across ballot issues." NBC4 WCMH-TV. November 3, 2026.
- "Trenton votes to ban data centers." WVXU. November 3, 2026.
- "Voters across the country reject data centers." Stateline. November 4, 2026.
This article was drafted with the help of AI. Gabe Dunsmith fact-checked, edited and published the article and is responsible for its accuracy and quality. How we use AI
