Voters Rejected Data Centers in 37 of 38 Called Ballot Measures on Election Day

Voters in towns from Ohio to California sent the artificial intelligence boom a blunt message on Election Day: not here. Of 38 local data center ballot measures with called results after the Nov. 3 vote, 37 went against data center development, according to a tally by the law firm Duane Morris using Ballotpedia data. Only one, in Harwood, North Dakota, went the industry’s way.

The results arrive as tech companies race to build power-hungry campuses to train and run AI models, and as the question of who pays for new power lines and water use becomes a local political fight in more and more places.

Data center ballot measures by the numbers

Duane Morris counted 41 data center measures on ballots in 10 states on Nov. 3. Of those, a “yes” vote limited development in 28 and favored it in 13, so the one-sided results were not simply a matter of ballot wording. Counting six earlier votes this year, all of which also went against data centers, there have been 50 such measures in 13 states in 2026.

Across all 50, the firm sorted the measures into four groups: 24 bans and moratoriums, 10 advisory questions, nine votes on specific projects and seven approval or zoning rules. Many of the bans use the same 25-megawatt threshold, a line aimed at hyperscale campuses. Most measures came from residents rather than councils: in Ballotpedia’s September count, 31 of 38 had qualified through citizen petitions.

Ohio was the epicenter. It had 21 measures on the ballot, and the result went against data centers in all 19 that had been counted, including 11 bans. In Wilmington, voters rejected all four rezonings from rural residential to light industrial land, each by 80% to 20%. Illinois voters went against data centers in all seven of their measures, and voters in the remaining states did so in 11 of 12 counted measures.

Lopsided margins in small towns

Many of the votes were not close. The table below shows some of the widest margins in the Duane Morris tally, along with the lone result that favored development.

Stateline, which used its own count, found 33 anti-data center measures passed or leading as of Wednesday. Ohio’s wave of local action has been building for months. The Ohio Capital Journal counts at least 138 municipalities and townships with data center moratoriums and 23 communities that have effectively banned them, against 257 data centers in the state, Duane Morris noted.

Recalls and a national mood

The backlash also reached local officials. Ballotpedia counted 42 recall efforts against 80 local officials over data center projects through early October. On Nov. 3, voters recalled the mayors of Yukon, Oklahoma, and Urbana, Ohio, along with three city commissioners in Piqua, Ohio, and a city council member in Mason, Michigan, according to the Duane Morris summary.

National polling suggests the issue resonates beyond the towns that voted. In an NBC News exit poll cited by Stateline, 56% of voters said AI and data centers were a “crucial or major factor” in their vote for Congress, and Semafor described voters as roundly rejecting the projects. Coverage of the broader midterm results is on our national election tracker.

What it means for Massachusetts and the AI build-out

Massachusetts could be next. A Massachusetts initiative filed in August would require two-thirds voter approval and utility and water certifications before any local data center permit. If it clears review and gathers enough signatures, it would appear on the November 2028 ballot, according to Duane Morris. A UMass Amherst poll published earlier this year found only 11% of Americans would support building an AI data center in their community, Stateline reported. Results from this week’s state ballot questions are on our Massachusetts election results tracker.

The local revolt contrasts with the money pouring into AI hardware. Server maker Supermicro just reported that its sales nearly quadrupled to $19.9 billion, and developers are offering concessions to win over skeptical communities, such as OpenAI’s pledge to cut up to 1,000 megawatts at its Georgia campus when the grid is strained.

The next tests come soon. Clarksville, Arkansas, votes Dec. 1 on two bond authorizations for named data center projects, one for up to $50 billion and one for up to $5 billion, and Mandan, North Dakota, votes Dec. 15 on a 25-megawatt ban.

Sources

• Duane Morris State Capital Lobbyist: Data centers on the ballot, where things stand
• Stateline: Voters across the country reject data centers (Nov. 4, 2026)
• Semafor: US voters roundly reject data centers in ballot measures
• Ballotpedia