HEATH, Ohio — Heath voters will likely decide for themselves whether large data centers should be banned in the city, after the Licking County Board of Elections validated 481 signatures collected by resident organizers, the Newark Advocate reported Oct. 28.
The signatures clear the bar organizers needed to trigger a special election, according to the Newark Advocate. Heath resident and organizer Margo Mayberry submitted a petition Oct. 19 with nearly 570 signatures, and the group needed 220 validated — a threshold the Advocate reported is set at 10% of those who voted in the city’s November 2025 general election.
The proposal before voters would ban data centers that use at least 23 megawatts of power per month, the Newark Advocate reported. Supporters told the Advocate they are concerned such facilities strain local resources and change the area’s rural character, and residents at recent council meetings have also raised concerns about water use, noise and light pollution.
Mayberry expects a special election in early 2027, according to the Newark Advocate. Ohio law requires a city to hold such an election 60 to 120 days after approving an ordinance, and Heath City Council could take that step at a meeting in November, the Advocate reported.
The successful petition followed two earlier attempts that fell short, the Newark Advocate reported. Organizers first submitted petitions with 180 signatures and 96 signatures, for a combined 276, and wanted them counted together. City officials declined, citing state law that prohibits altering, correcting or adding to a petition after it is filed, the Advocate reported, so organizers collected more signatures this time and changed the language from 25 megawatts to 23 megawatts to distinguish the new petition.
Heath would not be alone in putting the question to voters. Johnstown approved an ordinance in September for its own special-election vote on a large data center ban after organizers there gathered enough valid signatures, the Newark Advocate reported, and Pataskala and Granville voters will decide proposed charter amendments banning data centers on Nov. 3. Heath organizers are also working with the grassroots group Conserve Ohio, which is seeking signatures for a state constitutional amendment concerning 25-megawatt data centers, according to the Advocate.
Because Heath missed the Sept. 4 deadline to place the question on the November ballot, a special election will cost the city thousands of dollars, the Newark Advocate reported — a cost that had frustrated some organizers. What happens next is a council decision in November on the ordinance that would set the special election, followed by the vote itself in early 2027, when Heath residents will have the final say.