Ohio Residents for Responsible Development enters its third week of signature collection with no public count of how many voters have signed. The group needs 413,487 valid signatures from at least 44 of Ohio's 88 counties by July 1 to place the "Prohibition of Construction of a Data Center" amendment on the November ballot. [1]

The paper's week-two check-in yesterday noted the same information vacuum entering day eight. A week later, the county-captain map is the only public leading indicator: 46 of 88 counties had leads as of April 6. [2] The Ohio Ballot Board certified the single-issue amendment unanimously on April 2, clearing the petition for circulation. [3]

Organizer Andrew Gula told The Center Square the group is planning for 10 to 20 percent rejection rates, meaning a submission of roughly 500,000 to 700,000 raw signatures to clear the 413,487 valid threshold. [2] The amendment would ban any new data center drawing more than 25 megawatts per month — a level that would block nearly every facility built for AI training. [1] The group is a 100 percent volunteer operation, gathering signatures at park shelters and festival tables through three months of spring and early-summer events.

State Senator Bill Demora, quoted by ABC6 April 2, said he would "bet my mortgage" the group cannot clear 413,487 by July 1, noting the Ohio Democratic Party as an organizational entity had never gathered that many valid signatures in the modern era. [4] Three weeks in, the running count remains the one data point that would settle the question. It has not been released.

-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco