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Cheers erupted from the Holy Grail last night as dozens of Cincinnatians against Senate Bill 5 (SB 5) celebrated the overwhelming defeat of the bill in Tuesday’s general election.

With a large majority of Ohio voters voting no on State Issue 2 the controversial legislation that would have restricted public union’s right to collectively bargain can finally be laid to rest.

“We’re absolutely thrilled, the people have stood by us,” said John McNay, president of the AAUP union at the University of Cincinnati, as he celebrated at the Holy Grail. “The students stood by us as well, there were multiple groups that led rallies and started getting signatures for the petition as early as February and we’re very, very grateful for that.”

Issue 2 failed with 2,093,542 votes against the bill, winning with 61.3 percent of the vote (as of press time).

Also in attendance was Dan Traicoff, President of the College Democrats at UC, who said that his group got 750 students registered to vote in efforts to help strike down the bill.

The results of the election confirmed the findings of several independent poles conducted before the election that showed a large majority against SB 5.

“I’m excited out here drinking with some friends, but honestly I was confident that this would happen before tonight,” said Travis Coleman, a Cincinnati firefighter.

While many of those celebrating saw the defeat of the bill as a win for Ohioans, they also saw it as a loss for Republican members of Ohio’s congress and Gov. John Kasich who conceded on election night before all the votes were even counted.

“The governor created this vicious stance that was too hard to overcome and now the public and middle class have spoken,” said Rick Gallant, a former Cincinnati resident.

Such high voter turnout in an irregular election year only confirmed the public’s dismay about the bill that the governor had been ardently trying to sell the past couple of months, Gallant said.

“They’re union busters all they wanted to do is bust the unions so we couldn’t negotiate our wages or our safety equipment,” said Coleman.