Central Ohio Voters Approve Data Center Bans and Referendum Rules Across Five Communities
Unofficial election results show voters in Grove City, Sunbury, Pataskala, Granville, and Ashville backed charter bans, referendum triggers, and contract rejections.
Steel framework and heavy cranes stand at an EdgeConneX data center construction site in Ashville, Ohio.
Credit: NBC4 WCMH-TV Image source
Voters across central Ohio delivered a sweeping rebuke to large-scale computing infrastructure in the Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026 general election, passing municipal charter restrictions or rejecting development agreements in all five area communities where the issue appeared on the ballot.
In Ohio's Nov. 3, 2026 general election, voters in Pataskala, Granville, Sunbury, Grove City, and Ashville backed local data center restrictions, according to unofficial county returns. Nationwide, 41 data center ballot issues went before voters on Election Day, with 21 appearing in Ohio, according to election tracking by Ballotpedia. According to reporting on community opposition, Ohioans living near data centers or proposed data centers often take issue with light, air and noise pollution, and land and utility use.
Previously, Pique Media reported on Sunbury scheduling a public forum ahead of its charter vote in October and examined Grove City's ballot measure requiring voter consent for heavy industry in September.
The Tuesday outcomes reflect a fundamental shift in how central Ohio municipalities handle digital infrastructure. While local governments historically courted technology firms with property tax abatements to bolster municipal revenue, residents responded at the ballot box by establishing direct legal firewalls against industrial expansion. Across four counties, electors demonstrated that neighborhood disruption, environmental consequences, and utility grid strains outweighed promised financial windfalls.
Three Differing Legal Mechanisms
Rather than adopting a uniform approach, the five municipalities selected three distinct legal mechanisms to manage tech infrastructure: outright charter prohibitions based on electric demand, mandatory voter referendum triggers for large projects, and contractual referendum vetoes over municipal development agreements.
In Delaware and Licking counties, three communities amended their municipal charters to enact outright bans on large computing facilities:
In Sunbury, electors approved a city charter amendment with 78.64% of the vote, casting 2,809 votes in favor and 763 against across all six precincts. The charter text establishes a threshold covering facilities exceeding 25 megawatts, defining construction to include related preparations and modifications on single, contiguous, adjacent or aggregated parcels. The measure directly challenges a proposed hyperscale Amazon project that had drawn community concern.
In Pataskala, the data center charter amendment passed with 73.62% of the vote, drawing 5,418 yes votes to 1,941 no votes in Licking County's unofficial summary. Pataskala's charter provision establishes a direct construction prohibition covering facilities used primarily or exclusively for digital information services with aggregate monthly demand or peak load greater than 25 megawatts.
In Granville, voters approved their charter amendment with 82.45% support, tallying 2,015 yes votes to 429 no votes. Village residents approved the restriction as a general preventative measure rather than an action on a specific data center proposal.
Grove City took a procedural route, enacting Issue 28 as a charter amendment known as the Community Consent Amendment. Franklin County's unofficial summary showed the amendment passed with 54.60% of the vote, tallying 11,317 votes in favor to 9,411 against across all 30 precincts.
Instead of an outright prohibition, Grove City's amendment requires a public referendum for covered development, qualifying expansions, or ownership transfers meeting any of three thresholds: at least 50 contiguous acres, more than 20 megawatts of peak electrical demand, or more than 500,000 gallons of water per day. Under the amendment language, city approval cannot be granted until a majority of voters approves the project at the ballot box. A rejected application cannot return for 24 months. Furthermore, applicants must fund the referendum and an independent study covering electricity and water demand, employment, environmental effects, and projected tax revenue against city infrastructure cost. Existing facilities operating at or above these thresholds can receive grandfathered status by filing a baseline declaration within 180 days of the amendment's effective date.
In Pickaway County, Ashville took a third path through a direct ballot referendum on an administrative agreement. Voters rejected a village resolution that approved a development and supply contract with EdgeConneX by an 81.61% margin, casting 1,469 votes against the measure and 331 in favor with all four precincts reporting. Overturning the agreement may shift what benefits EdgeConneX and the village receive, according to local news reporting, but will not stop construction that is already underway.
Grid Strain, Water Demands, and Tariff Rules
The local voter pushback arrives as utility infrastructure across Ohio experiences unprecedented demand from digital computing facilities. The Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel ranks Ohio fifth nationally by data center count, with more than 200 facilities operating primarily in central Ohio. According to the state consumers' counsel, a hyperscale facility can consume power equivalent to 100,000 homes, while some data centers use millions of gallons of fresh water daily for cooling.
Utility spending has added an economic dimension to community resistance. Upgrading high-voltage transmission lines and electrical substations to serve industrial tech campuses requires substantial capital investment. The Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel projects that tech companies plan up to $40 billion in additional Ohio data center investments by 2030.
To address infrastructure cost distribution, state utility regulators have intervened. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved a specialized data center tariff for AEP Ohio that requires new large computing facilities to pay for at least 85% of their contracted electricity capacity for up to 12 years, regardless of whether actual consumption matches that level. According to the state consumers' counsel, the regulatory agreement protects consumers from infrastructure costs caused by data centers, after Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta proposed an alternative that would have shifted more costs onto residential electricity bills.
Home Rule and Future Legal Battles
By amending municipal charters, voters in Sunbury, Pataskala, Granville, and Grove City relied on local self-government powers granted by the Ohio Constitution. Under municipal home-rule authority, charter cities and villages exercise plenary control over local land use, zoning classifications, and administrative procedures.
The election returns produced diverging local outcomes rather than a single regulatory model: Pataskala voted for a prohibition on covered data center construction, Grove City for voter consent and continuing impact obligations, and Ashville against a specific EdgeConneX agreement.
While corporate developers have emphasized commercial tax payments, school funding contributions, and regional technological prestige, voters across four counties demonstrated that utility capacity, residential neighborhood buffers, and water conservation outweighed promised financial windfalls. The unofficial election tallies released by county boards of elections on Nov. 4 indicate that developers seeking central Ohio sites will now confront binding local ballot mandates alongside statewide utility capacity requirements.
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The sources and records behind this story, with the facts they support.
https://www.unite.ai/ohio-voters-back-local-data-center-limits-in-unofficial-results/
Supporting evidence (5)
In Ohio's Nov. 3, 2026 general election, voters in Pataskala, Granville, Sunbury, Grove City, and Ashville backed local data center restrictions, according to unofficial county returns.
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Voters in Trenton, Pataskala, Granville, Sunbury, Grove City and Ashville backed local data-center restrictions in Ohio’s November 3, 2026 general election, according to unofficial county results that included Delaware County’s election-night summary.
In Sunbury, electors approved a city charter amendment with 78.64% of the vote, casting 2,809 votes in favor and 763 against across all six precincts.
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Sunbury’s charter amendment passed 2,809 to 763, or 78.64%, with all six precincts reporting.
The charter text establishes a threshold covering facilities exceeding 25 megawatts, defining construction to include related preparations and modifications on single, contiguous, adjacent or aggregated parcels.
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Sunbury’s proposed charter text also uses the greater-than-25-megawatt threshold and defines construction to include related preparations and modifications on single, contiguous, adjacent or otherwise aggregated parcels.
In Pataskala, the data center charter amendment passed with 73.62% of the vote, drawing 5,418 yes votes to 1,941 no votes in Licking County's unofficial summary.
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Licking County’s results showed Pataskala’s data-center charter amendment passing 5,418 to 1,941, or 73.62% yes, and Granville’s amendment passing 2,015 to 429, or 82.45% yes.
In Granville, voters approved their charter amendment with 82.45% support, tallying 2,015 yes votes to 429 no votes.
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Licking County’s results showed Pataskala’s data-center charter amendment passing 5,418 to 1,941, or 73.62% yes, and Granville’s amendment passing 2,015 to 429, or 82.45% yes.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/columbus-area-communities-vote-data-003000221.html
Supporting evidence (5)
Nationwide, 41 data center ballot issues went before voters on Election Day, with 21 appearing in Ohio, according to election tracking by Ballotpedia.
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According to Ballotpedia, 41 data center ballot issues are up for consideration in the U.S. on Election Day. By far, most are in Ohio, at 21. In each of central Ohio's five races, communities voted to reject data centers.
According to reporting on community opposition, Ohioans living near data centers or proposed data centers often take issue with light, air and noise pollution, and land and utility use.
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Ohioans living near data centers or proposed data centers often take issue with light, air and noise pollution, and land and utility use.
The measure directly challenges a proposed hyperscale Amazon project that had drawn community concern.
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With 100% of the unofficial vote counted, Sunbury residents appear to have passed a measure to update their charter and ban data centers that use more than 25 megawatts of energy or more a month. Residents are particularly concerned by a possible hyperscale Amazon project, although the project's fate remains unclear despite the measure's passage.
Village residents approved the restriction as a general preventative measure rather than an action on a specific data center proposal.
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Unlike many issues, Granville residents were acting on general preventative measures rather than a specific data center proposal.
Overturning the agreement may shift what benefits EdgeConneX and the village receive, according to local news reporting, but will not stop construction that is already underway.
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Overturning the agreement may shift what benefits EdgeConneX and the village receive from the projects, but will not stop construction, which is already underway.
Sunbury Schedules Oct. 22 Special Meeting on Data Centers Ahead of Charter Vote
Supporting evidence (1)
Previously, Pique Media reported on Sunbury scheduling a public forum ahead of its charter vote in October and examined Grove City's ballot measure requiring voter consent for heavy industry in September.
Read supporting passage
Sunbury Schedules Oct. 22 Special Meeting on Data Centers Ahead of Charter Vote
Grove City Voters to Decide Issue 28 Mandating Referendums on Heavy Industry and Data Centers
Supporting evidence (1)
Previously, Pique Media reported on Sunbury scheduling a public forum ahead of its charter vote in October and examined Grove City's ballot measure requiring voter consent for heavy industry in September.
Read supporting passage
Grove City Voters to Decide Issue 28 Mandating Referendums on Heavy Industry and Data Centers
https://www.securities.io/ohio-voters-back-data-center-limits-and-reject-edgeconnex-agreement/
Supporting evidence (13)
Pataskala's charter provision establishes a direct construction prohibition covering facilities used primarily or exclusively for digital information services with aggregate monthly demand or peak load greater than 25 megawatts.
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Pataskala’s official ballot text establishes a direct construction prohibition rather than an additional approval step. It covers facilities used primarily or exclusively for digital information services with aggregate monthly demand or peak load greater than 25 megawatts.
Franklin County's unofficial summary showed the amendment passed with 54.60% of the vote, tallying 11,317 votes in favor to 9,411 against across all 30 precincts.
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Grove City took a different approach. Issue 28 passed 11,317 to 9,411, or 54.60% yes, with all 30 precincts reporting in Franklin County’s unofficial results. The official election notice describes a Community Consent Amendment requiring a public referendum for covered development, qualifying expansions or ownership transfers meeting any of three thresholds: at least 50 contiguous acres, more than 20 megawatts of peak electrical demand, or more than 500,000 gallons of water per day.
Instead of an outright prohibition, Grove City's amendment requires a public referendum for covered development, qualifying expansions, or ownership transfers meeting any of three thresholds: at least 50 contiguous acres, more than 20 megawatts of peak electrical demand, or more than 500,000 gallons of water per day.
Read supporting passage
Grove City took a different approach. Issue 28 passed 11,317 to 9,411, or 54.60% yes, with all 30 precincts reporting in Franklin County’s unofficial results. The official election notice describes a Community Consent Amendment requiring a public referendum for covered development, qualifying expansions or ownership transfers meeting any of three thresholds: at least 50 contiguous acres, more than 20 megawatts of peak electrical demand, or more than 500,000 gallons of water per day.
Under the amendment language, city approval cannot be granted until a majority of voters approves the project at the ballot box.
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Under the full amendment text, city approval cannot be granted until a majority of voters approves the project. A successful referendum allows normal zoning and permitting to proceed but does not guarantee a permit. A rejected same or substantially similar application cannot return for 24 months.
Furthermore, applicants must fund the referendum and an independent study covering electricity and water demand, employment, environmental effects, and projected tax revenue against city infrastructure cost.
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Applicants must fund the referendum and an independent study covering electricity and water demand, employment, environmental effects, and projected tax revenue against city infrastructure cost.
Existing facilities operating at or above these thresholds can receive grandfathered status by filing a baseline declaration within 180 days of the amendment's effective date.
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Existing facilities already operating at or above a threshold can obtain grandfathered status for current operations by filing a baseline declaration within 180 days of the amendment’s effective date.
Voters rejected a village resolution that approved a development and supply contract with EdgeConneX by an 81.61% margin, casting 1,469 votes against the measure and 331 in favor with all four precincts reporting.
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Pickaway County’s unofficial results show Ashville’s referendum failing with 1,469 no votes, or 81.61%, against 331 yes votes, with all four precincts reporting. The Ohio Secretary of State’s issue list identifies the question as whether to approve a resolution enacting approval of a development and supply agreement term summary with EdgeConneX.
The Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel ranks Ohio fifth nationally by data center count, with more than 200 facilities operating primarily in central Ohio.
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The OCC ranks Ohio fifth among states by data-center count, with more than 200 facilities, mostly in Central Ohio. A hyperscale facility can use as much electricity as 100,000 homes, and some data centers use millions of gallons of fresh water daily for cooling.
According to the state consumers' counsel, a hyperscale facility can consume power equivalent to 100,000 homes, while some data centers use millions of gallons of fresh water daily for cooling.
Read supporting passage
The OCC ranks Ohio fifth among states by data-center count, with more than 200 facilities, mostly in Central Ohio. A hyperscale facility can use as much electricity as 100,000 homes, and some data centers use millions of gallons of fresh water daily for cooling.
The Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel projects that tech companies plan up to $40 billion in additional Ohio data center investments by 2030.
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The decisions add local approval hurdles in a state where the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel says companies plan up to $40 billion of additional data-center investment by 2030.
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved a specialized data center tariff for AEP Ohio that requires new large computing facilities to pay for at least 85% of their contracted electricity capacity for up to 12 years, regardless of whether actual consumption matches that level.
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Separately, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has approved AEP Ohio’s data-center tariff, requiring new large data centers to pay for at least 85% of contracted electricity capacity for up to 12 years even when actual consumption is lower.
According to the state consumers' counsel, the regulatory agreement protects consumers from infrastructure costs caused by data centers, after Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta proposed an alternative that would have shifted more costs onto residential electricity bills.
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The OCC says the settlement is designed to protect consumers from infrastructure costs caused by data centers, and that Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta proposed an alternative that would have shifted more costs onto residential electricity bills.
The election returns produced diverging local outcomes rather than a single regulatory model: Pataskala voted for a prohibition on covered data center construction, Grove City for voter consent and continuing impact obligations, and Ashville against a specific EdgeConneX agreement.
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The practical outcome is a set of distinct local decisions rather than a single regulatory model: Pataskala voted for a prohibition on covered data-center construction, Grove City for voter consent and continuing impact obligations, and Ashville against a specific EdgeConneX agreement.