By Chris Lovett

Special to the Reporter

Ten years ago, when a former City Councillor upstaged the Dorchester Day Parade by saying the Fields Corner community looked like Saigon, his comments were taken as an insult.

Three days before this year's November election, one part of the Fields Corner neighborhood looked even more Vietnamese. In its design, the new community center opening on Charles Street harkened back to the country left behind. But the turnout of politicians was characteristic of a Dorchester ribbon cutting. And the hand-written signs on the fence outside were telling the community, in English and Vietnamese, to get out the vote.

And vote they did.

In the neighborhood surrounding the community center, Ward 15, Precinct 8, the number of eligible voters had increased since the last gubernatorial election year, 1998, by 59.4% On election day, the turnout was up by 88.9%. For the whole ward, the number of people voting November 5 had increased by 47.6%&emdash;compared with a citywide increase of 23.4%.

Concentrated mostly in Dorchester's Wards 15 and 16, the Vietnamese American community has an estimated 2,000-3,000 voters.

"Generally, Vietnamese in particular and Asians in general&emdash;they do register to be voters," said the community center's director, Hiep Chu. "But that's only half-way."

The rest of the way the non-partisan campaign work was done by VietAID, the Vietnamese-American Civic Association and the Vietnamese Women's League. With support from groups such as the Boston Foundation, Youth Vote and the Hyams Foundation, they turned out the vote, using telephone calls, post cards and flyers.

"Every piece of information we sent out was in Vietnamese," said Chu. As a result, he said, this election was "the first time the community really had access to information about the candidates, the (ballot) questions and where to vote."

What happened in the Vietnamese community also happened in other parts of Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. In Dorchester itself, the Boston Foundation supported registration and turnout drivers by groups such as ACORN, Dunk the Vote and Haitian congregations active in the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO).

In Ward 14, which runs along Blue Hill Avenue from Grove Hall to Wellington Hill and includes the Four Corners neighborhood, the voter turnout increased over the figure for 1998 by 36.7%. In Ward 13 (Uphams Corner/Columbia-Savin Hill), the increase was slightly above the citywide average, but in Ward 17 (Codman Square/Lower Mills), the increase was 30.8%.

The vote campaigns started back in August with registration and, in some cases, even earlier. Groups such as ACORN, GBIO and Dunk the Vote also got prospective voters to sign pledge cards promising they would turn out. They followed up with flyers, phone calls and door knocking by community volunteers. They did stand-outs at MBTA stations and busy intersections. ACORN even provided rides to the polls and planted 300 non-partisan get-out-the vote signs.

As a youth worker at First Haitian Baptist Church in Grove Hall, Daphne Germain starts her turnout drive at the earliest possible time: when church members turn 18, she presents them with a voter registration form. In the weeks leading up to the November election, she helped the GBIO campaign by calling from phone banks, firing off emails and speaking at a rally the Friday before the election at Dorchester's Greater Love Tabernacle Church. She says the results on election day disproved assumptions about voter indifference among people of color.

"It's not that people were indifferent," said Germain. "They did not feel empowered that their vote mattered."

As ACORN's head organizer Lisa Clauson explained the resulting numbers, "I think it was someone talking to them personally and taking an interest in their getting out to vote."

Dunk the Vote director Ron Bell says some voters may have also been motivated by the "non-recount" in the presidential vote two years ago in Florida.

"I think voting's becoming contagious," he said.

The night of the rally at Greater Love Tabernacle Church, voters had to settle for a fleeting glimpse of Republican candidate for governor, Mitt Romney, while his Democratic rival, Shannon O'Brien, sent her running mate, Chris Gabrieli. But, by then, the candidates for governor had already sent written replies to the groups about their positions on housing, bilingual education, criminal justice and electoral reform. Voters who missed the event Friday night could have gotten information about the answers when they went to church on Sunday.

A senior advisor to ACORN from Dorchester's Ward 14, Angie Wilkerson also talked up voting when she went to church at New Hope Baptist in the South End. She remembers earlier elections, when people tried to vote at the wrong location and were discouraged by poll workers who "were not too friendly." Wilkerson counts those voters as a missed opportunity.

"There's always a number of opportunities for people to do what's right," she says, "but people don't always do what's right."

Judging by statewide results, the newly mobilized voters were outflanked by turnout in the suburbs. Overall, Dorchester voters supported the gubernatorial ticket of O'Brien and Gabrieli and opposed the ballot initiative to abolish the current form of bilingual education. Voters across Massachusetts went the other way, and even came close to voting for abolition of the state income tax.

"It seems as if people have taken the urban vote for granted and people tried to get some leverage for their vote," said Wilkerson. "But it seemed to no avail. It didn't work."

Organizers in Dorchester say voters showed the most interest in ballot questions on the state income tax and bilingual education. In some parts of Dorchester they noted support for Eddie Jenkins, one of three candidates on the ballot for Suffolk County District Attorney. But organizers reported disenchantment with the front-runners for governor in both major parties.

"There were a lot of people, including myself, going to the pools on election day and not feeling too sure," said Bell.

"We didn't have a candidate we were gung-ho about," said Wilkerson. "It was the principle of coming out to vote and making a difference for your neighborhood and quality of life."

Bell says Dunk the Vote and GBIO also got Mitt Romney to commit to a follow-up meeting within 90 days.

In Dorchester's Vietnamese community, there was also something to show for years or organizing. The opening of the community center at the former site of an illegal car repair shop was only the neighborhood's most recent improvement. Pockets of blight in the streets around Fields Corner Station had been filled in with new housing and a community garden. And, as Chu, notes, owners of neighboring houses added improvements of their own.

When opening ceremonies were held for the community center, Chu could acknowledge the presence of Mayor Thomas Menino, State Senator Jack Hart and City Council President Mike Flaherty&emdash;along with letters from District 3 Councilor Maureen Feeney and State Rep. Martin Walsh.

"If we are able to mobilize two or three thousand voters in Dorchester, we will be able to have more impact on any candidates, particularly for City Council or state representative," said Chu.

"That also means, " he said, "that politicians want to work closely with us and we want to work closely with them."

Germain also thinks beyond one election year.

"In order for us to get noticed," she said, "we have to be consistent."

(Chris Lovett is a veteran Boston reporter who is originally from Dorchester. Lovett is the news director and anchor of the Neighborhood Network News, televised weeknights on BNN-9 in Boston)