"I wanted to figure out the top three issues on their minds deciding who they were going to vote for," she said.

During this election year, Ahmed and others organizing South Asian-Americans have often resorted to such tactics to collect basic information about their community. Although the United States is home to more than 2.5 million South Asians -- defined as people whose origins are based in India and its neighboring countries -- official facts about the population's political characteristics, such as how many vote and what party they are registered with, are severely lacking.

"No one has ever tried to collect this information before," said Sarah Ashfaq, an organizer at South Asians for Kerry. "No one knows. I couldn't even tell you."

During such a tight presidential race, as pollsters and the media daily identify niche voter groups that could decide the outcome -- security moms, NASCAR dads -- the South Asian community has remained largely overlooked, according to its political organizers. This large recent political contributions from the community.

"When this community donates, they donate into political causes or parties," said Ahmed, 25, "not to nonpartisan or voter-turnout efforts."

The statistics that exist are not particularly helpful. The 2000 census found that Michigan, for example, is home to about 67,000 people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. But this includes toddlers, non-citizens, and nonvoters.

South Asian Americans are more educated and wealthier than the population at large -- the census put the average Indian American household income at around $67,000; the overall population average was about $57,000.

Ashfaq said it is important to have the statistics so that the community can pinpoint its interests and concerns. She estimates that of 2.5 million South Asians in the country, about one million to 1.25 million are able to vote.

The majority of South Asians live in New York, New Jersey, and California. But Kerry campaigner Reshma Saujani says a considerable number are in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Florida.

"We think the South Asian population in some of the battleground states is very large," she said. "We are conducting focused efforts on these people for a reason."

On Friday night, Ahmed and her group visited a local Ann Arbor club where a popular South Asian DJ was spinning. "We want to get them out to the polls," she said. "Getting them to the polls is harder then getting them to register."

Saujani said her group had been campaigning at South Asian events in the New York area. "We've been to religious events, plays -- even someone's birthday party at a bar," said the 28-year-old New York attorney.

"All of this takes money and that's something our community is not investing in," Ahmed said. "It's a little frustrating but you just have to get creative."

Ashfaq said a large part of South Asians for Kerry's efforts were directed at organizing phone banks around the country. She said knowing someone's language is a big part of effective organizing.

"When you're South Asian, you can reach out to the people who don't understand English so well," she said. "If you can talk to them in Hindi, you automatically establish a bond."

"Because our population is so small, a lot of these people wouldn't have gotten phone calls or their door knocked on," Ashfaq said.

Ashfaq said she has gotten positive feedback during her calls. "Some people have said, 'I'm very happy that you are South Asian and you called me, and now I will vote for John Kerry,'" she said. "But some couldn't care less who we are."

From their individual polling efforts at universities in New York, Florida, Michigan, Georgia and California, Ahmed's group, South Asian American Voting Youth, has pinpointed three issues South Asian Americans care most about in this election: the Iraq war, health care, and fiscal issues.

"I found that a little surprising," said Ahmed, who is based in Los Angeles and has been doing youth voting work for the past six years. "I thought issues such as racial profiling and hate crimes would be more prominent."

But Ashfaq said those she polled were interested in civil liberties, the economy, education and health care. "Most people we have talked to really care about domestic issues," said Ashfaq. She also said a majority of the people her group has polled are voting for John Kerry.

"People don't think we are suffering from unemployment or lack of health care," said the 24-year-old New York accountant. "We're not all really wealthy and doing well and going to be hurt from the tax cuts."