The 3 November 2026, vote approved local bans and other limits, including a measure aimed at a campus already under construction in Ashville. The effects on individual Amazon projects remain unresolved.
Voters in at least 14 Ohio municipalities approved bans or other restrictions on data centers in the 3 November 2026, vote, Fortune said. The measures set limits on where developers can build facilities that house computing equipment and on the terms of development.
Ohio already had 125 local data-center moratoriums—pauses on development. The ballot results add restrictions that range from power-use thresholds to blocking a campus already being built.
In Sunbury, a charter amendment banning data centers that use 25 megawatts or more appeared to pass, with all of the unofficial vote counted. Megawatts measure electrical power. The report, citing NBC4, said the measure targeted a possible large-scale Amazon project; that project’s fate remains unclear.
Trenton’s ban passed 80% to 20%. Organizers hope it will keep an 18-building Amazon Web Services data center out of the city. The Journal-News, cited by Fortune, said the ban likely would not affect a nearby four-building campus already under construction.
Ashville residents approved a measure to entirely block a data-center campus already under construction. That vote reaches beyond restrictions on proposed developments to target a project where building work has begun.
Amazon declined to say whether the ballot measures would change its expansion plans. The company said its commitment to the communities where it operates remained unchanged.
Local votes are scheduled for November 2026, while a separate campaign seeks a statewide constitutional ban on large data centers and could reach voters no earlier than 2027.
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