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Employees of gaming companies encouraged
to vote August
3
To make their political clout
stronger after political losses during the last legislative
session, several Nevada based gaming companies are looking
to their employees for help.
Most feel that it is no
longer good enough to be shuttling lobbyists to Carson City
and for executives or political action committees to give
money to campaigns.
In the past few months, many
companies have implemented programs helping to urge tens of
thousands of gaming employees to register to vote. Many of
these programs include voter guides to help educate voters
about candidates and issues.
Two of the state of Nevada's
largest gaming companies, Station Casinos and MGM Mirage,
are even taking company time to shuttle employees to early
voting stations.
The legislative session last
year was frustrating for the gaming community, which lobbied
for issues as a broad-based tax instead of the payroll tax
that was finally created.
MGM Mirage has a voter
turnout program that has been up and running for more than
ten years. This will be the first year the company will
provide transportation to voting stations. It is also said
that such programs make employees feel more like a part of
their community and boosts morale.
While the gaming community as
a whole has a lot of power, Station Casinos is said to
probably have the biggest impact if their program is
anywhere near successful because they employ approximately
11,000 people.
Even tough Station Casinos
chooses candidates in it's voter guide that is based on
their views of gaming, they do not obligate their employees
to vote one way or the other. They have already registered
about 400 employees that were not previously registered to
vote.
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