Data Centers

Ohio Leads a Wave of Local Data Center Bans

Voters resoundingly approved data center bans on Tuesday, often in towns where no centers exist or are planned.

Tosin Akintola | 11.4.2026 9:50 AM

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(Illustration: Ratz Attila/Vladimir Timofeev/Dreamstime.)

Ten states considered 41 data center–related ballot measures on Tuesday.* Over half of these were in Ohio—21 measures in 18 jurisdictions. While some ballot measures included carveouts for smaller facilities, it appears voters overwhelmingly chose to oppose the development of so-called hyperscalers—data centers with an aggregate monthly demand or peak load greater than 25 megawatts.

Even when they weren't on the ballot, they may have been a factor in the elections: NBC's exit polls report that artificial intelligence and data centers were a "crucial or a major factor" for 56 percent of voters.

Here's how the most restrictive data center–related ballot measures fared:

Ohio

Until recently, Ohio was one of the best states for prospective data center development. But on Election Day, several towns voted to restrict the structures. This includes  Upper Sandusky—a northwestern Ohio town with a population of 6,661 people—where residents voted to add their data center ban to the town charter.

They weren't alone. Voters in Conneaut, Trenton, Pataskala, and Piqua—sparsely populated towns near Ohio's largest metro areas—also added data center bans to their town charters.

In the Ohio towns of Oregon and........

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