US voters reject data centers in 40 of 41 ballots, slowing the AI buildout

Update: this article updates Eleitores dos EUA rejeitam data centers de IA nas midterms de 2026, published on November 4, with the final tally, the percentages by city and OpenAI's response.

Voters in the United States sent a clear message to the artificial intelligence industry in the November 3 elections: in 40 of the 41 local measures on data centers on the ballot across 10 states, the outcome went against expansion or in favor of new restrictions, according to Ballotpedia's tracker with results compiled by CNBC.

Ohio had the most votes, with 21 measures. Illinois had seven, Maine four and Kansas three; measures were also on the ballot in California, Florida, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota and Wisconsin. The proposals ranged from bans and moratoriums to zoning rules and requirements for a public vote on large projects.

Ohio was the epicenter of the rejection

Around Columbus, voters went against data centers in Ashville, Pataskala, Grove City, Sunbury and Granville, according to unofficial counts cited by local media. In Defiance, 64.73% of voters approved an amendment restricting data-center construction; in Pataskala the figure was 73.62%, and in Granville 82.45%. In Ashville, 81.61% voted against a data-center referendum.

Other striking results: in Joliet, Illinois, 79% said no to an advisory question about approving AI data centers; in Morgan County, 88% backed restrictions; in Alhambra, California, 82% voted to ban data centers from the city; and Edgewater, Florida, approved writing the ban into its city charter. In Hubbard, Ohio, more than three-quarters of voters approved the ban.

The only exception was Harwood

The only outcome favorable to the industry was in Harwood, North Dakota, where voters rejected, by 325 votes to 105, a proposal requiring additional review and a public hearing before approval of large industrial projects, including data centers.

Counting the six measures decided earlier in 2026, 46 of the 47 measures this year have favored limits — including the ban in Monterey Park, California, approved with 88.3% of the vote. The November 3 results are still unofficial.

Why voters pushed back

The backdrop is electricity bills, water use and land: more than 2,000 new facilities are planned in communities across the United States, according to CNBC. An NBC News exit poll found 76% of voters would oppose a new data center in their community, and a Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos poll found seven in ten Americans oppose new data centers in their communities. In a CNBC voter poll, 56% said data centers were a crucial or major factor in their decision.

Political consequences and the industry's response

In Texas and Georgia, voters elected governors who promised a pause on approvals. Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa backed a moratorium until the legislature passes protections for water, electricity costs, property rights and air quality.

Two days after the vote, OpenAI published a national community compact pledging not to use nondisclosure agreements with public officials and to pay the electricity and infrastructure costs of its campuses — a topic Geekiki has already covered in detail: OpenAI Community Compact: empresa pagará conta de luz dos data centers e fim de NDAs.

The dispute continues: on December 1, Clarksville, Arkansas, votes on two referendums on bonds of up to $50 billion and $5 billion for data-center projects, and on December 15 Mandan, North Dakota, decides on a ban on data centers of 25 megawatts or more.

Image credit: photo of the Wikimedia Foundation's servers, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sources

Transparency: this article was produced with the help of artificial intelligence, based on cross-checking public sources on the internet and public posts on X, with editorial review. We recommend consulting the original sources listed above to verify the details.

— Muse