US Voters Just Passed Dozens of Measures Against Data Centres

Voters in at least 38 jurisdictions across the US passed bans or restrictions on data centres in Tuesday’s midterms. 

Almost every single data centre moratorium that was on the ballot nationwide was approved, with the exception of a bill in Hardwood, North Dakota. 

An NBC exit poll from Wednesday found that over half of voters (56%) saw AI and data centres as a “crucial or major factor” in how they voted, after the cost of living, the Iran war and government corruption.

The anti-AI backlash came alongside a historic repudiation of the Republican party and US president Donald Trump, who has aggressively pushed data centres and lashed out at people opposing them.  

In Ohio, at least 14 municipalities passed bans or restrictions on data centre development, including the city of Sunbury, where Amazon wants to build a $2bn data centre project. 

Over 75% of voters in Hubbard, Ohio backed restrictions – just a few miles from where Trump held a rally last month extolling his administration’s embrace of AI. The Washington Post reported “only a tepid response” from the crowd at the mention of the tech. 

Nearly 80% of voters chose to restrict data centres in Joliet Township, Illinois, while over 60% of voters in Janesville, Wisconsin backed a measure that means an abandoned General Motors site cannot be used as a data centre without voters’ approval.

A quarter of the tech industry’s new data centres are planned for Texas, where Gina Hinojosa beat Greg Abbott to become the state’s first Democratic governor in 35 years. Hinojosa backs a moratorium on new data centre projects and strong protections for the environment and energy usage. 

Data centers have been the site of cross-party backlash in the US, with communities coming together across the left-right divide to oppose gigantic, energy and water-hungry AI infrastructure, which tends to provide few local jobs while being noisy and polluting, and driving up household bills.

A poll from the Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos last month found that seven in ten Americans oppose new data centre construction in their communities – including a majority of Republicans. 

This is bad news for the tech billionaires who have gone all-in on AI and strongly aligned themselves with Trump in an AI-booster coalition from the beginning of his second term. 

“Voters rejected Republicans in part because they were bought and paid for by AI billionaires. Democrats must hold them accountable instead of cashing their checks,” Texas Democratic representative Greg Casar wrote in a statement on Wednesday.