UNDATED-(AVC News)—Voter turnout for the November 3rd election was record setting, not only on election day, but early voting as well.
Early reports indicate that around 49% of all registered U.S. voters, around 124 million people, cast a ballot on election day.
While impressive, the 226 election turnout lags behind the 69% turnout rate in 2022 and 79% in 2018.
Ohio voters also set turnout records for November 2026.
According to the Ohio Secretary of State Office, unofficially 58% of registered voters in Ohio cast ballots this year. This represents the highest midterm voter turnout in more than three decades.
Sources note that between 2002 and 2024 the average voter turnout in Ohio was 55.6%.
The Secretary of State notes that early in person voting proved to be popular this election with just over 1.1 million voting in person early, while just over 737,000 mail in, absentee ballots were issued.
Voter turnout figures from this region were all above 50%.
The countywide figures include; Jefferson 52.2%, Belmont 52.7%, Harrison 54.1%, Guernsey 54.2%, Muskingum 54.8%, Coshocton 55%, Morgan 56.23%, Perry 56.3%, Monroe 57%, Tuscarawas 57.7%, Noble 58.7% and Licking 59.4%.
Voters Spoke Loud and Clear On Data Center Ballot Measures
Across the U.S., voters were clear in their message regarding Data Centers.
Across the country, there were 41 ballot measures, 21 in Ohio alone, limiting data center development. Unofficially, voters were in favor of 40 of those proposed restriction measures.
That one exception was in North Dakota where voters defeated a proposed review requirement for certain developments, including data centers.
In Ohio, voters approval included; 3 full data center bans and eight partial bans, along with two zoning measure regulations related to data centers, while Perry County voters approved a measure requiring hyper scale data center developers seeking certain tax incentives to provide financial guarantees to the community. In addition, in Licking County, 74% of Pataskala voters and 82% of voters in Granville approved bans of data centers needing more than 25 megawatts of power.
While voters made their voices heard on data center development, future development, reports indicate, that construction of data centers is not necessarily dead.
Industry analysts expect that while projects already permitted or under construction will largely proceed, the “next wave” of the AI infrastructure boom will face severe delays due to local zoning fights and slower permitting.
In an analyst report, Morgan Stanley said decisive results for Democrats carry “greater expectations for data center restrictions” that, under new state regulations, could “split the country into areas that are open to new data centers and those without.”
Morgan Stanley also said Ohio’s governor-elect, Democrat Dr. Amy Acton, “creates significant risk of data center project delays in the state.” Acton has pledged to block a data center project unless it meets certain standards.
Ohio remains one of the country’s largest data center markets, with, according to state data, more than 200 operational data centers. Reports add that companies are planning to invest up to $40 billion in AI infrastructure in Ohio by 2030.
