A federal judge set a hearing for Thursday to help determine the legitimacy of the use of Las Vegas casinos as sites for the Nevada Democratic caucuses, just two days before delegates are selected in the increasingly heated battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.Originally established to allow thousands of casino employees working on Saturday to participate, the hotel-based caucus precincts have become enmeshed in legal and political controversy ahead of the first balloting in the nominating process that is expected to include a large percentage of Latinos.The Culinary Workers Union Local 226, whose members man the nine casinos hosting at-large caucuses, began distributing fliers on Tuesday, accusing Clinton of not supporting their right to vote, citing her “I don’t know” reply to a local Nevada reporter, asking if she opposed caucusing in the casino sites.Obama told workers on Sunday that Clinton’s supporters wanted to “change the rules” because the union “decided to support the outsider”.Bill Clinton, stumping in Henderson, Nevada, on Monday, criticised the casino caucuses, saying only culinary union workers would benefit. Why “make a special rule only for these workers. I think the rules ought to be the same for everyone,” he said.The casino sites were established by state Democrats in consultation with the presidential campaigns and national party officials in a bid to accommodate thousands of casino employees. Rather than balloting in the precinct site where they live, shift workers within 2 1/2 miles of the “strip” can attend at-large caucuses being held in ballrooms of many of the hotel casinos. The suit alleges that casino sites create a “preferred class of voters”. Lawyers for the plaintiffs, several of whom are backing Clinton, have asked US District Judge James Mahan to shut the sites because they would award a “disproportionate allocation of delegates” to participants who work in the casinos, disadvantaging voters in the more than 1,700 other precincts.Nevada Democratic officials have rejected the suit, saying all parties agreed to the ground rules in March.
