Immigrants show up in force for Patrick

Yawu Miller

After 14 years of running get-out-the-vote efforts in Chelsea, Gladys Vega saw a sight she thought she would never see.

“When I got to the place where I vote at 6:45 this morning, there were Latinos in line waiting to vote,” she said.

“We don’t know yet whether people are voting in large numbers, but it shows there’s a strong sentiment in the community. I think with all the negativity in the campaign, people are more inclined to come out and vote.”

Given the anti-immigrant rhetoric of Republican Kerry Healy’s campaign, it was no surprise that voters in heavily immigrant communities like Chelsea leaned toward Democrat Deval Patrick.

And community activists in the Greater Boston area have used the controversy to mobilize immigrant voters.

Back in May, when immigrant activists marched in protest of local and national efforts to pass laws restricting the rights of undocumented immigrants, many chanted the slogan “today we march, tomorrow we vote.”

Ali Noorani, who heads the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Coalition, says the slogan is being translated into action.

“Immigrants are just like anyone else,” he commented. “If you target them, they react. Organizations are seeing this as an opportunity for community mobilization and as a tool for building political power.”

Noorani said immigrant organizations in cities and towns across the state are engaging in get-out-the-vote efforts aimed at demonstrating the political strength of immigrants.

Vega, who spoke while directing get-out-the-vote operations at Centro Latino de Chelsea’s three-story Broadway headquarters, commanded 85-or-so volunteers in phone banking, literature drops and rides to the polls — the standard fare of voter mobilization.

While her effort is non-partisan, many of her staff took the day off to work for Patrick’s campaign.

“None went to work for Kerry Healey,” she noted.

The heightened civic engagement Vega felt in Chelsea was also palpable in East Boston, where a large immigrant Latino community was mobilized through non-partisan get-out-the-vote efforts.

At the Maverick Blue Line stop, Giselle Martinez handed out nonpartisan voter information to commuters as they left the station.

“Most people I have talked to say they have already voted,” she said. “And they say they have voted for Patrick. That’s happening all over East Boston.

In East Boston, Patrick benefited from a campaign headquarters run out of the Maverick Square law office of attorney Manuel Macias.

There, East Boston coordinator Gloribell Mota gave orders to volunteers as a stream of Service Employees International Union 615 workers fanned out to do door-to-door outreach.

“It’s been overwhelming,” she said. “If you go around you see a lot of Deval signs. It feels like his election is a done deal.”

While Mota fielded phone calls from campaign workers, volunteers in her office had plenty to say about the candidate.

“He’s a leader of the minorities,” said Olga Lattarulo, a Peruvian immigrant who volunteered in Patrick’s East Boston office. “And he’s a good role model for society. He represents the American dream.”

Lattarulo’s speech in support of Patrick was cut short when Mota entered the office clutching her cellphone.

“I’ve got great news,” she said. “The Latino precincts are coming out strong.”