Janesville Passes Referendum Limiting Data Centers, Part of National Wave

A Janesville resident displays a sign in favor of the GM/JATCO referendum Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, in Janesville, Wis. Angela Major/WPR Janesville joined dozens of communities across the country last week in passing ballot measures that could restrict future data center development. More than 60 percent of voters in the city of Janesville approved a referendum giving residents more power over the future of the city’s former General Motors plant site, according to unofficial results from Rock County. The referendum came in response to a failed data center development on the property. It was one of 41 ballot measures across the country last week responding to the national data center boom, according to Ballotpedia. And in all but one measure this year, voters have favored outcomes limiting development. In many ways, those outcomes were a response to voters’ broader economic anxieties and feeling left out of the development process, said Stephanie Justice, a spokesperson for the nonprofit A