The Heritage Foundation’s Hans A. von Spakovsky, writing in the Washington Examiner,  explains how the cooperation to turn out employees of Harrah’s casinos to vote for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is illegal:

As National Review reported earlier this week, the Reid campaign sent a desperate e-mail to the senior vice president for government relations at Harrah’s Casinos asking the company to pressure its employees to get out and vote for Reid. The campaign even offered to have Reid call Harrah’s executives to help give “the backing” needed to get the company working on this.

The Reid staffer involved told Harrah’s it needed to “put a headlock” on its supervisors “to get them to follow through….”

Harrah’s did just that, getting headcounts and insisting that supervisors explain why their employees had not yet voted. They also coordinated with employee unions to get buses and shuttles to take the employees to the polls….

Harrah’s executives were apparently threatening employees who had not voted, and were coercing them to vote for a particular senatorial candidate. The obvious implication for anyone receiving these Harrah’s e-mails or having a “headlock” put on them was possible reprisals and adverse employment consequences if they did not cooperate in getting out the vote (and vote) for Reid.

The Justice Department’s handbook on election crimes for prosecutors makes clear that it is criminal to engage in “conduct intended to force prospective voters to vote against their preferences, or refrain from voting, through activity reasonably calculated to instill some form of fear.”

And does anyone think this was the only entertainment company the campaign pleaded with in this manner? The media attributed Reid’s victory to a much-heralded “ground game” — if you don’t vote, we’ll ground you into a pulp.

This can’t stay in Vegas.