Nevada county extending GOP caucus vote for Sabbath observers

JTA

The Republican caucus in a Nevada county will hold a special vote hours after the totals are set to be reported to accommodate Sabbath-observant Jewish voters.

Clark County moved its Feb. 4 caucus to 7 p.m., six hours after the state’s totals are scheduled to be reported. Among the county’s voters is casino and resort mogul Sheldon Adelson, who with his wife recently donated $10 million to a super PAC formed to help GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich.

The caucus will be held at the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Educational Campus, an Adelson-funded private school in Las Vegas, according to Politico.

More than half the state’s Republican voters live in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.

Some 500 Republican voters are expected to attend the additional caucus. An absentee balloting system is in place for Nevada caucuses, according to Politico.

Meanwhile, ABC News reported over the weekend that Adelson has been under investigation by the by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities Exchange Commission for allegedly bribing Chinese officials, according to corporate documents, in order to smooth the operation of his lucrative Sands casinos on the Chinese island of Macau.

In a separate civil lawsuit, a former Sands executive, Steven Jacobs, had alleged that Adelson ordered him to keep quiet about sensitive issues at the Sands casinos on Macau, including the casinos’ alleged “involvement with Chinese organized crime groups, known as Triads, connected to the junket business,” ABC News reported.