October 19, 2004: Canvasser for Republican Consultant Says She Was Told Not To Register Democrats

Michele Tharp, of Meadville, Pennsylvania, says that as a volunteer canvasser for Sproul & Associates, a Republican-financed political consulting firm, she was instructed not to register Democrats. “We were told that if they wanted to register Democrat, there was no way we were to register them to vote,” she tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We were only to register Republicans.” Tharp further explains that volunteers were sent door-to-door to seek registrants but were told to first ask which candidate they planned to support. “If they said Kerry, we were just supposed to say thank you and walk away.” She also complains that she was paid only $14 for 15 hours of work after being hired at a rate of $11 per hour. But Brenda Snyder, a volunteer with the Republican Victory Center in Erie, who disputes claims that workers were told not to register Democrats, denies that workers were docked for registering Democrats, saying instead that the problems were due to “discrepancies in their paychecks.” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/20/2004]