But, if the street life of Cantonese, Mandarin and Vietnamese speakers had died down, it was in full swing on the third floor of the Asian Health Services building on Harrison Street.

Beverly Liu, 18, nearly yelled into the phone in Mandarin as her cheeks turned red.

Voters in Oakland Chinatown at Lincoln School cast their ballots. Photo credit: Nicole Hill

Liu was among 50 volunteers with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network and its local community organization, Power in Asians Organizing. They were busy calling up a list of 8,000 members of the Asian immigrant community urging them in their native languages to vote on Tuesday.

On the "first day of phone banking my face [was] all red, I'm so excited and I'm yelling at the phone," said Liu of her enthusiasm to convince other Asian immigrants who are U.S. citizens, to get out and vote.

The organization is also educating immigrants on Proposition 72, which would require businesses with 50 or more employees to provide health coverage to its workers. The organization leaders support this health care initiative and said it would benefit the community.

A senior at Alameda High School, Liu speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese. She moved to the United States from China two years ago and is ineligible to vote.

No matter. Liu said she enjoys getting involved in U.S. politics "I feel justified, if I'm really working for the people who have less power in society," said Liu.

"The Chinese is already a minority," said Liu. "In fact they don't vote, and they gave up chance for basic rights for themselves."

Liu and 30 of her bilingual classmates from Alameda High School were on hand to help APEN make calls. The students will receive credit for their advanced-placement class in government.

Liu said she often connects on the phone with Chinese seniors who have been living here for years but can't speak English. "Some seniors they acknowledge they want to vote. They want the government to hear their voice."

"Most seniors are more willing to hear you. They have more time. They want someone to talk to them," she added.

She explained the process in making a call. "I told them I'm a volunteer from an organization. [They] resent so many people calling them. But there rarely is a Chinese speaker calling them. That makes [a] difference."

"If you mobilize people you really have to be emotional sometimes," she said. "Sometimes the seniors not hearing real well, so [I] yell actually. They become acquainted with you. They think your voice is more familiar. They think you are like their friends."

"I have the highest rate of (getting) people to say yes. Because I get emotional."

Another vibrant phone-bank volunteer was Ning Ba Chen, a 75-year-old immigrant from China. He cannot speak English, but it's his third year as a U.S. citizen, and he will be voting next week.

This election Chen helped 20 senior citizens living in his apartment building on East Twelfth Street in Oakland to fill out voter registration forms and absentee ballots.

Speaking through an interpreter, Chen explained why his work is important. "In America… for a person, living the world, they have to do something for others."

Amber Chan, a community organizer for Power in Asians Organizing a project of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, said the organization's goal is to get 1,500 Asian immigrant voters for Proposition 72.

"It's important for us to let them know what their rights [are]. What they are supposed to look for... They don't read the mainstream newspaper."

Chan said one stumbling block for Asian immigrant citizens is that they work two or three low-wage jobs and don't have time to go to the polls.

Chan however, said she uses this as more justification to mobilize the community to vote. "That's why you need to vote," said Chan. "How can you improve your life.... You will always work two jobs. That's why it is your future, if you don't vote, you will always work two or three jobs it will never end it."