“Never data centers here”, from Florida to Ohio the revolt of small towns is shaking Wall Street

WASHINGTON – The shadow of the Data Centers on the American vote. Voters said a clear no to the further development of those mega plants, the physical places that host computer servers and archives, considered essential hubs in the race for cognitive computing, but highly polluting and devouring energy and water, taken from the host territories. According to a CNBC poll, 56 percent of voters considered the candidates' positions on the issue before going to the polls. And a bipartisan 76 percent are against the construction of new centers. It is not surprising, therefore, that they were rejected practically everywhere they were present on the ballot papers (on Tuesday dozens of local referendums were held on the most disparate topics): 40 out of 41 communities that had put the issue to the vote in fact expressed themselves in favor of moratoriums, bans, stops to constructions already in progress, limitations on dimensions and even the possibility of drawing on local resources.

Unanimous voice

With the exception of Harwood, in the Republican bastion of North Dakota, where the restrictions were rejected, it has happened literally all over America: from Edgewater, Florida, where a ban on new data centers was included in the city charter, to Perry, Ohio, where financial and operational constraints will be imposed on hyperscale companies seeking tax breaks. «We have shown that the vote is our voice», Maggie Hill, spokesperson for the “Don't Drain Texas” organization, tells us: «We had warned politicians that not listening to us would cost them. We have demonstrated our strength. The involvement of people in future choices is non-negotiable." In fact, a resounding rejection of the economic policies of Donald Trump: who a year ago issued an executive order in which he defined any regulation of AI as a "form of wokism", that is, an environmentalist ideological extremization, arguing that "you cannot oppose progress, you must support it. If we don't build them, China will prevail."

The race of recent years