On Nov. 3, voters in ten states (California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin) decided 41 local measures about data centers. By Ballotpedia’s count, voters sided with limiting data center development in 40 of them. The lone exception was Harwood, North Dakota, where voters rejected a review requirement for certain developments.
What passed. The measures weren’t all moratoria. Voters approved five outright bans, twelve partial bans (some aimed only at large facilities), three six-month moratoriums in Maine, zoning limits, two non-binding statements of opposition in Illinois, and requirements for a public vote on big projects. Grove City, Ohio now requires voter approval for developments over 50 acres, 20 megawatts or 500,000 gallons of water a day. Perry, Ohio requires hyperscale developers seeking tax breaks to post financial guarantees to the community.
What failed. Thirteen pro-data center measures went down, including all four rezonings in Wilmington, Ohio, seven non-binding statements of support, and a Boulder City, Nevada measure that would have opened the Eldorado Valley to data centers.
In the West. Alhambra, in Los Angeles County, approved a citywide ban on data centers, reportedly by about 82 to 18 percent. Nearby Monterey Park passed its own ban earlier this year. Boulder City’s defeat keeps data centers out of a large tract of city-owned desert.
What this says about the zeitgeist. These votes cut across party lines. Ohio and Kansas townships voted the same way as suburban Los Angeles, and outlets from Breitbart to Truthout covered the results as a rebuke to the industry. People are not voting against the internet or against AI as such. They are voting against a deal they have learned to recognize: a project negotiated behind closed doors, sold with jobs and tax revenue, that leaves residents with higher power bills, strained water supplies, diesel generators and no say.
What people actually want. Read together, the measures ask for four things:
- A real say, including public votes and hearings before big projects are approved.
- No cost shifts, so the companies profiting from AI pay for the power plants, lines and water systems they need.
- Limits on scale where land, water and grid capacity can’t support a hyperscale campus.
- Enforceable guarantees, not promises: collateral, exit fees and conditions that survive a change in ownership.
What it means for policymakers. Bans will keep spreading as long as the alternative is a blank check. The better answer is the one California just wrote into law with SB 886, and the one we have long argued for: data centers that bring their own clean power and pay the full cost of what they use. Officials who want data centers in their communities should offer voters those terms first.
Sources: Ballotpedia, Nov. 6, 2026 · GridSight vote tracker · Breitbart, Nov. 5, 2026 · Truthout




