A proposed constitutional amendment to ban all large-scale data centers in Ohio will not be on this fall’s general election ballot as organizers of the campaign had hoped.

Conserve Ohio, the group sponsoring the campaign, has failed to gather the required 413,000 valid signatures on petitions to qualify for the Nov. 3 ballot. It now plans to place the issue on the fall 2027 ballot.

In a statement released last week, Conserve Ohio representatives said, “The July 1 deadline was our best case scenario for the quickest possible action. Internally, we set that as our ideal target, and it just didn’t pan out. We are not going to be submitting this year.”

As of Sunday, its database reported 76,626 signatures collected thus far, which represents about 18% of its goal of about 420,000 total valid signatures.

In the Mahoning Valley, Trumbull County leads with the most signatures — 1,087 of 7,388 sought. Mahoning County has logged 285 signatures of 8,686 sought, and Columbiana County has recorded 59 signatures of 3,600 sought.

Conserve Ohio spokesmen said there are no plans to slow the petition drive. “We want to make it clear: we will not be stopping. Construction won’t be stopping, so signature gathering and community action will not be stopping. … Based on our progress so far, we feel confident in making the deadline for the 2027 general election.”

The group’s petition seeks to amend the Ohio Constitution to ban the construction of data centers that consume over 25 megawatts (MW) of energy per month. Twenty-five MW is the threshold between a manageable, community-friendly facility and an industrial-scale data center that can use as much power as a small town, according to Conserve Ohio.

Its petition says that anything bigger than 25 MW should be prohibited. Ohio already has approximately 200 data centers.

Nearly 20 communities in the state — including nine in the Valley alone, with two more under consideration — have placed moratoriums on the approval and construction of data centers. The Ohio General Assembly also is considering legislation to regulate them more stringently and to revise available tax breaks for them.