Richland County voters on Tuesday backed a move by their three county commissioners and preserved a ban on wind and solar power by a thinner margin than partisan politics may suggest.
In a tight contest, 12,189 voters (52.9%) voted to uphold a ban on industrial-scale wind and solar in most of the county, while 10.853 (47.1%) voted to overturn it, according to preliminary election results.
This means the north-central Ohio county will maintain its prohibition on renewables in 11 of 18 townships there, a restriction imposed by the county’s three Republican commissioners.
Solar power in Ohio is often polarized along political lines, with Democrats in support and Republicans opposed. But only about 1 in 4 primary voters in Richland County picked a Democratic ballot, meaning a broad swath of Republican voters wanted to reverse the ban.
The referendum campaign tailored its messaging around Republicans, framing the issue as one of government overreach and not global climate change.
Regardless, the effort fell short.
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Morgan Carroll, a central figure in the repeal campaign, said in a phone call Tuesday evening that the result was disappointing, but proved that solar isn’t a clean-cut partisan issue.
“It wasn’t that far off from being 50-50,” she said. “It’s telling from such a Republican county that we’d even have that close of a result.”
Darrell Banks, a county commissioner who supported the ban, said the county won despite the outside money that poured in.
“This is an affirmation by the voters that their Township Trustees and County Commissioners are aligned with the best interest of their communities,” he said. “We appreciate the support of Richland County voters.”
Several interests from far outside Richland County sought to move the needle there. The National Resource Defense Council, a national environmental nonprofit via its political arm, and Ohio Citizen Action, a grassroots organization from Columbus, spent heavily in support of a repeal.
On the other side, known Republican operatives backed the campaign in support of the wind and solar ban.
The election was the second test in state history of a 2021 law that gives local governments broad powers to block renewable energy projects in their jurisdictions – powers they don’t have when it comes to coal, gas or nuclear energy projects.
You can read Signal Ohio’s more comprehensive coverage on the referendum here.