Las Vegas casinos become polling sites

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Democratic Party officials, hoping to increase voter turnout in the Nevada caucuses, will for the first time use Las Vegas casinos as polling places.

Although there will be more than 1,700 caucus precincts across the Silver State, estimates are that the votes cast in the casinos could be more than 10 percent of the statewide total, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

At the Bellagio, many of the hotel workers will go on break around noon and gather in a 30,000-square-foot ballroom to vote for the Democratic Party nominee Jan. 19.

At the Bellagio, executives estimate between 4,000 and 5,000 employees will be working at caucus time.

"It's not perfect for us. We've got a business to maintain," said Gordon Absher, spokesman for MGM Mirage, which owns the Bellagio and three other casinos hosting caucuses.

Under rules set by the Nevada Democratic Party, only casinos that have been organized by the powerful Culinary Workers Union Local 226 were selected as caucus sites, the newspaper reported.

In Las Vegas, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is supported by many hotel and casino executives, while Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has the support of the Nevada chapter of the Service Employees International Union and the culinary workers union, the most powerful union in the state.