Midterms 2026: Data Centers Out, Reproductive Freedom In
Voters also rejected automated license plate readers, and the idea of transgender girls playing on girls' sports teams in schools.
Reproductive freedom was popular in yesterday's midterm elections. Data centers were not. Nor were automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems like Flock or the idea of letting transgender girls play on girls' sports teams in schools.
Let's take a closer look at how state and local ballot initiatives related to sex, tech, and gender fared among voters in 2026.
Pro-Choice Wins In 3 Out of 4 States With Abortion-Related Ballot Initiatives
Measures related to abortion and broader reproductive freedoms were on the ballot in four states yesterday: Idaho, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia. Only in Idaho did those opposed to these things prevail.
Idaho Proposition 1 would have created "a right to reproductive freedom and privacy including a right to abortion up to the point of the fetus's ability to survive outside the womb." It would also have barred the government from interfering in decisions about "contraсерtion, fertility treatment, and prenatal and postpartum care." With 95 percent of the votes in, Proposition 1 failed by a fairly large margin, with 56 percent voting no and just 44 percent voting yes.
Things went quite differently in Nevada, where voters seem to have overwhelmingly approved of Question 6, creating a constitutional right to abortion until fetal viability in the state. With 85 percent of votes in, 63 percent of voters said yes.
Virginia voters approved a similar measure. Virginia Question 1—which passed 62 percent to 38 percent—amends the Virginia constitution to "protect the freedom to make personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care," per the official ballot title. It does so while "allow[ing] for restrictions on access to abortion during the third trimester of pregnancy except when the patient's health is at risk or the pregnancy cannot survive."
And in Missouri, where voters already approved a reproductive freedom amendment to the constitution in 2024, they now rejected a proposal to repeal that amendment while also adding a constitutional amendment to prohibit gender transition surgeries for minors. The latter are already illegal under Missouri law, but Missouri Amendment 3 seemingly sought to confuse the issue by claiming that a no vote would "not prohibit gender transition procedures for minors," when really it just keeps the status quo. The amendment failed by nearly 10 full percentage points, with 54.8 percent voting not to repeal and 45.2 percent voting to do so.
Data Centers Denied in Most Places Where They Appeared on the Ballot
Ballot initiatives related to data centers were numerous last night, at least at the local level. There were no statewide ballot initiatives related to data centers, but some portion of voters in 10 states weighed in on data centers yesterday. Twenty-one of these local measures appeared on ballots in Ohio, seven in Illinois, four in Maine, three in Kansas, and one each in Wisconsin, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Florida, and California.
Almost nowhere did a pro–data center initiative pass or an anti-data center initiative fail, according to preliminary results. In most places, it wasn't even a close call.
Exceptions include two Ohio cities and Harwood, North Dakota. In Harwood, "the secretary of state's office said 75% of the 430 people that voted rejected an amendment to the city charter that would have required an independent review and public hearing before adopting large industrial projects, including data centers," according to Route Fifty.
In the Ohio city of Wilmington, voters supported the rezoning of rural residential land to allow for the construction of a data center. And in Granville, Ohio, they opposed amending the city charter to prohibit data centers.
Meanwhile, residents of Alhambra, California, overwhelmingly voted to ban data centers in the city. Voters in Edgewater, Florida, said no new data centers could be built there. Voters in the Illinois city of Bloomington advised city leaders to impose a moratorium on large-scale data centers, while voters in Morgan County also advised their leaders to impose restrictions. In five other Illinois locales—Chouteau Township, Granite City Township, Joliet Township, Nameoki Township, and Venice Township—voters said no to advising city officials to let data centers exist locally.
Similar results can be seen in El Dorado, Emporia, and Ottawa, Kansas; in North Berwick, Peru, Wells, and Wiscasset, Maine; in Downe Township, New Jersey; in Boulder City, Nevada; and in Janesville, Wisconsin.
Trans Girls Banned From Girls' Sports Teams in 4 States
Measures to segregate school sports teams based on biological sex rather than gender identity were on the ballot in four states yesterday: Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Washington. All have passed or seem likely to pass.
In Arizona, Proposition 318 says that "athletes of the male sex" cannot play on any school sports team designated for girls, women, or females and that people must use the school bathrooms or locker rooms designated for their sex, while defining sex as "an individual's biological status as male or female as recorded at birth." With all precincts reporting, 59 percent of Arizona voters have approved.
Colorado voters are on their way to passing a similar measure with Proposition 134, which says that school athletic teams designated for girls or women are not open to male participants and defines male as someone "whose biological reproductive system is organized around the production of sperm." With 80 percent of precincts reporting, it's winning 52 percent to 48 percent.
Nebraska Initiative Measure 442, stipulating that "athletic teams or sports designated for females, women or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex," was approved by a whopping 68 percent of voters (with 95 percent of precincts reporting).
And, in Washington, a measure to ban "biologically male" students from competing in school girls' and women's athletic teams appears to have passed. Yes votes on Washington Initiative 638—which also requires all student athletes to "provide a statement from the student's healthcare provider verifying the student's biological sex, based on reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels"—stand at 57 percent as of this writing.
Miscellaneous
There were a few other notable ballot initiatives related to sex, gender, and tech yesterday. I'm going to briefly list them:
Virginia Question 2: Voters chose to remove from the state constitution language that prohibits same-sex marriage. That language is currently irrelevant, given the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell, but removing it ensures that same-sex marriage remains permitted in Virginia should Obergefell be overturned.
Arizona Proposition 319: Voters said no to authorities using photo enforcement systems to find traffic law violators. Under this measure, new contracts for such systems are prohibited after this year, and existing contracts must be put up to a vote in the next general election and every 10 years thereafter.
Flock-related measures (various): "On Tuesday, voters took to the ballot box to weigh in on the future of Flock cameras and other automated license plate readers (ALPRs), adding to a growing nationwide backlash against mass government surveillance and mounting privacy concerns," reports Reason's Autumn Billings. More details here.
Colorado Proposition 133: This measure stipulates that anyone found guilty of sex trafficking involving a minor—including anyone who pays a minor for sex (with or without knowing the minor's age)—should be sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for parole.
Colorado Proposition 135: Voters weighed in on whether to prohibit "surgery on a minor for the purpose of altering the minor's biological sex characteristics." With 80 percent of precincts reporting, the yays have a slight advantage (52 percent to 48 percent).
