Local workers not paid to recruit registered voters

By John Carlin
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: October 6, 2008

“I was walking into School one day and this girl named Lindsey walked up and said would you like a job opportunity?”

How often do you get an offer like that?  It was easy, perfect for a political science major AND it paid pretty well too.

Amber Phelps took the job.  “She explained that we were signing up people to vote and that we would be getting paid 9.00 an hour,” said Phelps.

Amber, Chris Mobely and his twin brother Greg—all got the same job. 

“It wasn’t an interview process per se, we were told what we would be doing,” said Greg.

“They would pile us up in the van take us to different areas …and we would just sign people up to vote,” explained Phelps.

They told WSLS-10 they were hired by a company known by two names, Progressive Future and Work for Progress.  We found posters all over town advertising the jobs, and on Craig’s list on the internet.  Callers to WSLS-10 said there were also ads in the classified section of the Roanoke Times.

The three told WSLS-10 they each worked 30 - 35 hours and each registered about 30 voters.

But when they went by the office to get their paychecks—  no one was there.

“I came back Saturday no one was there, Sunday no one was there, twice today and no one there,” said Amber.

When I knocked on the door I found the same thing.  Inside I could see computers on the desks, and Barack Obama posters on the wall. But the door was locked, and workers in an adjoining office said they had not seen any activity all day.

The workers tell me that they initially came to work at the same building in Roanoke’s Old Southwest neighborhood and that they would go there every day before they would go out and try to recruit people to register.  They estimated as many as 75 people would work there at any given time.  They say people were always getting fired and there were new faces everyday.

Chris was fired on his last scheduled day.

“They were like, we actually don’t even need you today, we called to tell you that you are no longer working with us, and couldn’t come up with a logical reason.”

“As of now, I’m moneyless.  I’m jobless, that’s basically it, you know?” said Phelps.

WSLS-10 attempted to contact the company at the phone number listed on the poster, but there was no answer and no answering machine. 

The BB said they had two complaints from workers with similar stories on Monday morning. 

It’s still not clear if or when the workers will be paid.  It’s also not certain the people they registered are in fact now on record with local registrars. 

WSLS-10 will continue to investigate this story.