A grassroots Ohio campaign to ban large data centers from the state will not reach this year’s ballot, falling well short of the signature threshold needed before a July 1 deadline. The organization behind the effort, Conserve Ohio, says it plans to continue collecting signatures with a target of the 2027 ballot instead.
Why It Matters
Ohio ranks sixth in the nation for data center concentration, with more than 200 facilities statewide — including 26 in Cincinnati and 22 in Cleveland. The proposed constitutional amendment reflects growing tension between rapid data center expansion and concerns about energy demand, water use, and local infrastructure. Nationally, data centers consumed roughly 4% of U.S. electricity in 2023, a figure projected to nearly double to 9% by 2030. A single large facility can draw up to five million gallons of water per day.
The debate is playing out in state legislatures across the country. At least 14 states have introduced legislation to temporarily ban or restrict data center construction, and Ohio lawmakers have yet to pass any comprehensive data center legislation, leaving local governments and citizen groups to fill the gap.
What Happened
The Ohio Ballot Board approved signature collection for the proposed amendment in April. To qualify for the November ballot, Conserve Ohio needed to gather more than 413,000 valid signatures from residents in at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties — all before the July 1 deadline.
As of June 18, the group had collected just over 70,000 signatures, relying on a volunteer force of more than 1,000 people. That total represents roughly 17% of the required minimum, making it mathematically impossible to reach the threshold in time.
The proposed amendment would prohibit data centers whose peak electricity load exceeds 25 megawatts per month — a threshold that would capture the largest industrial-scale facilities. Conserve Ohio announced it would not submit the signatures it has collected for this cycle and would instead redirect its efforts toward 2027.
“We want to make it clear: we will not be stopping,” the group said in a public statement. “Construction won’t be stopping, so signature gathering and community action will not be stopping.”
By the Numbers
- 413,000+ — signatures required to qualify for the ballot
- 70,000 — signatures collected as of June 18
- 44 of 88 — minimum county representation required
- $1.57 billion — sales-tax exemptions the state provided on data center equipment and materials last year
- 200+ — data centers currently operating in Ohio
Lucas County led signature collection with 6,482, followed by Stark County at 6,329 and Butler County at 4,030.
Zoom Out
The push to restrict data center development reflects a nationwide conversation about energy infrastructure and land use as artificial intelligence and cloud computing drive demand for large-scale facilities. More than a dozen Ohio cities have enacted temporary data center moratoriums at the local level, reflecting community-level frustration with the pace of development ahead of any state-level framework.
On the legislative front, Ohio House Bill 646 has been introduced to reduce new sales-tax breaks for data centers from 100% to 50%, a partial response to criticism that the current incentive structure is too generous. Even so, the state extended nearly $1.57 billion in such exemptions on data center equipment and materials in the most recent fiscal year alone.
What’s Next
With the November ballot off the table, Conserve Ohio will continue its signature drive with a longer runway toward 2027. The group has framed the missed deadline not as a defeat but as a delay, indicating its organizational structure and volunteer network will remain intact.
Whether Ohio lawmakers act in the interim remains uncertain. The legislature has not yet moved comprehensive data center legislation to a floor vote, and the fate of House Bill 646’s sales-tax reform provisions is unclear. Meanwhile, local moratoriums continue to provide the only near-term checks on new construction in affected communities.
“We can’t change when we began,” Conserve Ohio said, “but we can determine how it ends.”