The judge was like, “Whatcho want me to do about it?”
A federal judge on Thursday allowed Nevada Democrats to hold presidential voting in casino hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, potentially helping Sen. Barack Obama in the next round of the campaign on Saturday.
For the first time, Nevada Democrats planned to set up nine locations for Saturday’s vote so casino shift workers, who are largely represented by a union that endorsed Obama, could attend caucuses and vote for a presidential candidate.
A teachers’ group filed a lawsuit saying the fact that only casino workers could vote at their workplaces was unfair, but Judge James Mahan of the U.S. District Court for Nevada disagreed and rejected a temporary injunction.
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“The Democrats can set up their own rules just as the Republicans can,” Judge Mahan said. “It is not up to some federal judge to come along and say, I don’t like that.”
The folks who brought the lawsuit are supporters of the Clinton campaign, and while its really unfortunate that they saw reducing turnout amongst the Culinary Union workers as a pathway to victory, they do have one legitimate beef. By having all the Culinary Union workers caucus together at their place of employment, they can be easily overseen in the caucus room by their bosses and union reps. Anyone who dares stand up in the caucus room and express support for Clinton or Edwards is opening themselves up to reprisals later.
