US voters reject 40 of 41 local data centre ballot measures in midterms

Voters in the United States rejected 40 of 41 local ballot measures tied to data centre construction, according to figures from Ballotpedia cited by El País and a New York Times survey presented by Olhar Digital. The votes bear directly on artificial intelligence because data centres concentrate the servers responsible for training and running generative models, virtual assistants and other digital services, and their growth demands large quantities of energy and natural resources, as Olhar Digital notes. Siting decisions for those facilities have consequently been put directly to electorates, and in almost every case recorded they were refused.

The Intercept reports that newly elected Democratic governors in Georgia, Ohio and Texas promised moratoriums on new data centre construction and adopted tougher regulatory positions than their Republican opponents. In Ohio, El País reports, governor-elect Amy Acton, a doctor who defeated the Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, defends a moratorium until operators commit to covering the full cost of public services and permit workers hired to build the facilities to unionise; the same article describes Sherrod Brown, elected as Democratic senator for Ohio, as among the clearest in his campaign message against data centres. The Intercept attributes the pattern to residents' direct experience of living near such facilities, citing Shobita Parthasarathy, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, who said many Americans form their view from "real knowledge" of the installations' deficiencies.

Olhar Digital reports that Meta's president, Dina Powell McCormick, told a Wall Street Journal technology conference that building new data centres in the United States will be harder after the elections, with fresh projects facing stricter review and more difficult negotiations with authorities and communities. She said expansion of existing facilities may encounter less resistance, and that one governor-elect who had opposed data centres during the campaign showed interest in talks after taking office. The same outlet reports Meta's forecast of up to $145bn in capital expenditure in 2026, its Hyperion and Prometheus projects in Louisiana and Ohio, a third facility in Texas developed with BlackRock, and plans to raise up to $97.5bn through new share issuance; Powell McCormick said large operators are assessing construction in other countries.

El País reports that roughly half the defeated measures — 21 projects — were in Ohio, which it identifies alongside Virginia and Texas as an epicentre of the industry, and where OpenAI has projected the largest AI data centre campus in the world, financed by a group of investment banks and Nvidia, with investment estimated to exceed $500bn when complete, according to CNBC. Reported spending figures differ between sources: The Intercept says Elon Musk spent nearly $450m ahead of the midterms, including more than $200m in Texas, while El País reports $474m spent on the campaigns of conservative candidates in Texas. An Intercept analysis found that only 5 per cent of AI super PAC direct expenditure went to contested general election races.

El País reports the 41 referendums took place in 10 states, while naming California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, Nevada and Wisconsin and identifying Ohio, Texas and Virginia as the most affected — eleven states in total. The sole measure to pass was in Harwood, North Dakota, where voters declined to revisit requirements for industrial projects. NBC News election-day polling cited by The Intercept found about three-quarters of voters opposed building such facilities in their communities, and more than half called AI and data centres a crucial or major factor in their decision. How the promised moratoriums will be drafted remains open; Powell McCormick said new projects should expect more rigorous scrutiny.