Cleta Mitchell, Republican senate candidate Sharron Angle’s legal counsel, sent a letter to the Department of Justice today, requesting an investigation into whether the coordination between Democrat senate candidate Harry Reid’s campaign’s and Harrah’s revealed voter intimidation in violation of federal law.
Referring to an article by Battle ‘10’s Elizabeth Crum about the e-mails between Reid’s campaign and Harrah’s, Mitchell wrote in the letter that “The posting details and documents an orchestrated effort by Harrah’s … to intimidate and coerce Harrah’s employees to vote for Harry Reid for the United States Senate, to track whether or not employees had or had not voted and to pressure supervisors to ensure that the employees reporting to those supervisors were voting.”
“And these overt activities were specifically demanded by one or more persons who work for Sen. Reid,” she added. “The evidence shows that Harrah’s management has continually communicated to employees their concern with electing Harry Reid and not just to ensure that the employees voted for the candidates of their choice.”
Mitchell also noted that she had filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission last week about union intimidation of voters. That complaint noted that union employees had hung about polling locations while their members were inside voting, and had sometimes monitored inside the polling sites, actions which could potentially make union members feel intimidated.
“This constitutes nothing less than a concerted scheme to violate the rights of Harrah’s employees which clearly interferes with these employees’ rights to cast a secret ballot for the candidates of their choice, without fear of reprisals, recriminations, job loss, or other adverse employment actions. This illegal, improper and heavy-handed intervention into the fundamental voting rights of Harrah’s employees should be immediately investigated by the Department of Justice,” concluded Mitchell.
UPDATE: The Department of Justice declined to comment on the matte. And David O’Mara, legal counsel for the Nevada GOP Victory Committee, has sent a letter to Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller requesting an investigation of the situation.