Americans overwhelmingly voted against data centers in the midterms

On Tuesday evening Americans voted overwhelmingly to restrict the country's data center boom. In local elections across the United States, data centers were the subject of 45 ballot measures in 10 states. As of early Wednesday morning, 33 measures to restrict the facilities in some form had passed, with another six projected to go the way of anti-data center advocates, according to tracking website Data Centers on the Ballot.

All told, only one municipality, the City of Harwood in North Dakota, voted against an amendment that would have mandated the local government to hold public hearings before approving large industrial projects like 100-megawatt data centers. The measures that passed were varied, but included outright bans, temporary moratoriums, limits on energy use and mandates that elected officials obtain public approval before allowing a project to move forward. Five localities have yet to post any voting data.

Nowhere did the American public reject data centers more forcefully than in Ohio. The state is currently home to 257 data centers. On Tuesday, data centers were on 20 ballots across the state, and the vote to restrict the facilities has either already won or is projected to win in every instance. Notably, outright bans were on the ballot in the cities of Urbana and Hubbard, and the vote there wasn't even close. Residents voted by wide margins — 76 and 77 percent, respectively — in favor of not allowing data centers in their backyard.