Ohio voters sharply rejected data centers in this year’s election. Around Ohio, 18 communities voted on whether to curb or ban data center developments. In all 18 communities, voters decided that, yes, that would be a good idea.
In most, the results were resounding — like Harlem Globetrotters v. Washington Generals resounding. City leaders in Wilmington, the county seat of Clinton County, asked voters to rezone four parcels to allow data center development. Roughly 80% of voters rejected all four.
In the Lake County Village of Perry, more than 87% of voters backed an initiative requiring data centers that accept tax incentives to take out a bond, operating kind of like an insurance policy, to back up their promises of local tax revenue…