Elon Musk’s America PAC Canvassers Faced Surveillance, Sickness, and Late Pay in Arizona

Paid door knockers for Elon Musk’s get-out-the-vote effort in Arizona allege to WIRED that they’ve had to work through illness and have struggled to get paid on time or in the full amount promised under onerous quotas.
Five people who shared their experiences working under the umbrella of the billionaire’s canvassing operation in the state—four through a group that has received donations from Musk and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, and one with a subcontractor for Musk’s America PAC—claim they were subjected to poor working conditions. These include, they allege, practically impossible-to-meet quotas akin to the ones first reported by WIRED in a story about the treatment of paid canvassers brought into Michigan for the same work.
While the Michigan workers had to contend with being driven around in seatless U-Haul vans—Blitz Canvassing, the America PAC vendor involved, later told WIRED its subcontractors “never should have driven their canvassers in a U-Haul van”—the Arizona workers make distinct allegations. These include pressure to work through sickness in the desert heat and what one canvasser describes as a hyper-surveillance culture.
“I felt like it was 1984, you know what I mean?” a door knocker who was flown in from out of state and contracted by Liberty Staffing Services to drop literature for America PAC tells WIRED, requesting anonymity because they signed a nondisclosure agreement. “I felt like Big Brother was always watching me.”
The newly shared allegations paint a grim picture of what it’s like to work for the various sub-organizations involved in Republican voter turnout efforts, which have been largely outsourced to Musk’s network. Arizona, like Michigan, has been one of the seven key battleground states targeted by both presidential campaigns and is expected to be decided on thin margins.
Even the big brothers within the organization had to put up with subpar conditions.
One team lead—who says their job involves making sure the canvassers “behave at the hotel”—describes catching the flu last week and, allegedly, still being forced to drive everyone around to their respective routes. They also claim they were underpaid and that they were informed by a manager on Monday, November 4, that they would not be getting paid on time.
“My Halloween was ruined, and I caught the flu,” they added.
Late payments seem to be a recurring theme with Musk-backed door knockers. One Michigan canvasser was paid only after WIRED reached out to their manager and to America PAC for comment. The former Arizona door knocker with Liberty Staffing Services—which, along with America PAC, is a codefendant in a class action suit alleging violations of California labor law first reported by WIRED—shared screenshots showing that they made complaints about repeated late payments before they eventually quit. The same Arizona canvasser also took out payday loans to make ends meet in between payments, according to a bank statement reviewed by WIRED.
They also recall being told by their manager to drive around the rest of their unit despite having flulike symptoms after the work led to them spending up to 12 hours a day in the desert heat.
“One day, I was sick, and I felt like shit,” the former door knocker alleges. “I got into the car, and the boss walked out and saw me. I looked like a zombie.” Still, they kept pounding the pavement, kitted out in America PAC merch and dropping literature in favor of Trump.
Canvassers in another unit, run under the Hispanic Leadership Alliance—which received $100,000 from Crow earlier this year and $825,000, within the past month, from Musk—recall similar claims.
One out-of-state door knocker with HLA alleges that their quota was to hit 200 doors per day in the burning sun—a difficult total to hit even under more bearable weather.
Several of the door knockers recount being confused over the exact nature of the subcontracting arrangements they had, but they quickly began to realize it was all connected to the billionaire.
“This is, uh, it’s supposed to be on Hispanic leadership,” one of the door knockers tells WIRED, “but we [were] pushing for America PAC as well with Elon Musk. So it’s all the same thing.”
“We were technically employed by Liberty Staffing,” says the first door knocker, who has since left and shared their offer letter under Liberty’s letterhead. Like the door knocking unit in Michigan along with others across the country, these canvassers had to deal with the Campaign Sidekick app, the preferred mobile software for Musk’s get-out-the-vote effort.
Representatives for America PAC, Liberty Staffing Services, Hispanic Leadership Alliance, and an attorney for Musk did not return requests for comment.
However, the former door knocker claims, they were surprised to find an additional level of security in what they described as “physical auditors.”
They were told to expect to occasionally see someone driving by to make sure they were actually knocking on the doors and not, as has been previously reported by WIRED and other outlets, gaming the app to hit the quotas without having to wait around at the door.
The only noticeable difference between the various subcontractors and partners, it seems, comes down to the dress code.
An onboarding email obtained by WIRED shows that HLA canvassers have been required to wear shorts “no shorter than three fingers above the knee,” while the Liberty door knocker said they got some leeway.
After so many days in the heat and fully sweat-through shirts, it was time for an alternative.
“They gave us these America PAC shirts and little badges on lanyards, but they weren’t super strict about that,” the Liberty door knocker said. “I had only a couple shirts, they got dirty, and you don’t want to smell like shit on the job.”
You can follow all of WIRED’s 2024 presidential election coverage here.