Voters Back Data Center Limits in 38 of 39 Counted Local Races
Local ballot measures to restrict data center construction passed almost everywhere they were counted in the US midterms. They ranged from power caps to outright bans.
Data centers had a bad night at the US ballot box. In local midterm contests that put restrictions to a vote, residents sided with limits almost every time.
The count so far
The tracker Data Centers on the Ballot lists 47 local elections in American cities and townships with measures on data center construction. Voters favored restricting the pace of expansion in 38 of the 39 completed counts.
Eight races remain open. In six of them, partial results show the pro-restriction side ahead. The last two have reported nothing so far.
What voters approved
The measures took several forms.
- Ten closed races added megawatt caps to town or city charters. Most towns chose 25 MW, and caps lead in two partial counts.
- Ten races asked non-binding advisory questions. Nine closed ones came out in favor of restriction, and the last partial count leans the same way.
- Seven closed races rejected rezoning that would have allowed data center sites. A similar rejection leads in one more.
- Five races approved outright bans on new construction, and another ban leads in a partial count.
Two further measures would require voter approval before new construction can go ahead. They have passed or are leading. Six other completed races chose different limits, such as temporary moratoriums and extra conditions on tax benefits.
For scale, a 25 MW cap sits far below the 3,200 MW that a planned OpenAI facility in Effingham County, Georgia is expected to demand.
The one that failed
At the time of writing, a single restriction measure had lost. In Harwood, North Dakota, voters turned down a charter amendment that would have made the town order an independent review ahead of any approval of new data center construction or expansion.
Why voters cared
NBC exit polls found that 56% of midterm voters called AI data centers either "crucial" or "a major factor" in choosing their member of Congress. The report ties opposition to worries about environmental damage, energy costs and noise.
The votes came on a night when Democrats won federal and state races, a result interpreted as a nationwide rejection of Trumpism.
Our View
These were local votes on local rules, so the count shows how widespread the sentiment is, not what any single project will do.
The gap between a 25 MW cap and a 3,200 MW project is wide, so the caps may matter most for how large sites are planned. How developers respond to charters like these will show how much weight the results carry.
Source: PC Gamer