Judge OKs Las Vegas casino caucus sites

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The Democratic Party can go ahead with its nine at-large caucuses on the Las Vegas Strip, a judge ruled Thursday.

In dismissing the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge James Mahan said the Democratic Party had a right to set the rules for its caucuses.

The lawsuit, filed by five Democrats and a state teachers' union, claimed the Strip sites violated voters' right to "one man, one vote" because delegates assigned during the at-large caucus sites at the casinos will be based on attendance, the Las Vegas Journal-Review reported. Delegates at traditional caucuses will be based on the number of registered party members.

The sites had been approved by state and national Democratic Party officials, who had asked the lawsuit be tossed out for various reasons, including the late date of the filing, coming just days before the Nevada caucuses.

The lawsuit asked Mahan to determine the constitutionality of the Democratic Party accommodating Strip shift workers and not provide the same convenience for other voters who must work during the Saturday caucus.

The lawsuit pitted two of the largest unions in the state against one another: the Nevada State Education Association, which hasn't officially endorsed a presidential candidate, and the Culinary Union, which endorsed U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., just days before the suit was filed.