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JACKSONVILLE, Ill. (WAND) – Morgan County voters will be asked whether the county should restrict data center construction and operations. The question is on the November ballot.
The vote is nonbinding, but county leaders said the results could help guide their next steps.
What the question asks
Commissioner Michael Woods said the question asks voters whether restrictions should be implemented. It does not ask whether they support data centers.
“The reality is that if the majority says yes, what that does is give us a little bit more guidance to say, ‘What kind of restrictions should we be looking at? How should we look at the impact of data centers on our county?’ If the majority says no, then that also tells us a great deal,” Woods said.
Flinn and Khara Koffel gathered more than 1,100 signatures to put the question before voters.
“Getting 1,100-plus signatures is not a small feat. I will say that there was a lot of legwork, with people going into restaurants and into businesses. We went to concerts on the square and parades everywhere that we possibly could to get a wide variety of input from people in our county,” Koffel said.
Moratorium extended
The county recently extended its moratorium by six months.
A voice for the county
Voters and county leaders said the ballot question gives residents a say in what could be built in their communities.
“We have three members on our commission, so that means there’s only three people. But behind those three people is a significant amount of 30-some-thousand people that really need to have a strong voice,” Woods said.
Petitioners said the question shows how many people in the area care about the issue.