Hawaiian organizations are not the only ones trying to get their community members to vote.

Organizations in the Korean, Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese and Samoan communities are also gearing up for the fall elections.

Amanda Chang, president of the Korean-American Bar Association, estimates that a voter registration drive her organization and other Korean groups undertook two years ago netted about 1,200 new voters.

Chang and her volunteers, who come from five different Korean-American organizations, started again two weekends ago. Their registration tables can be found every Saturday at two groceries popular with Korean-Americans: Queen's Supermarket in Kalihi and Palama Market in the Kaheka area.

The effort will continue through Aug. 19, just before the Aug. 23 deadline to register for the primary election.

Chung said she started the effort eight years ago when she was a member of the Honolulu Korean Jaycees.

"Korean-Americans are very minority in terms of the numbers," she said. Short of running for office themselves, voting for government leaders is the best way to be involved in the political process, Chang said.

"I would just like to see more and more people get involved and this is a speaking-up opportunity," she said.

Chang stressed that her group does not advocate for any candidates or issues. "I just want more people to be involved," she said.

Wing Tek Lum and other members of the Chinese Community Action Coalition have also been busy. Volunteers have set up a registration booth on alternate Saturday mornings in the heart of Chinatown, at the makai end of Kekaulike Mall. They will be there next on Aug. 19.

Lum said the group has done voter drives in five election cycles. He estimated 300 new voters were registered two years ago.

After two Saturdays this year, he said, the group has helped about 150 new voters and about the same number of people who need help with changing addresses or signing up for absentee ballots.

With more people now registered, much of the group's work is focused on ensuring they actually vote.

"We want to make sure that the Chinese immigrant community is represented in the election process," Lum said. "We know that many of the immigrants have come from places that do not have a tradition of voting in free elections."

Lynne Gutierrez, president of the O'ahu Filipino Community Council, said her group and three others are seeking permission from the managers of several shopping centers where they hope to set up voter registration tables.

The council is working with the Filipino Coalition, the Congress of Visayan Organizations and the United Filipino Council of Hawai'i not only on registering people, but also giving them rides to their voting sites on Election Day. KNDI Radio is also involved in the program.

Thomas Bui said his organization, the Vietnamese Community of Hawaii, sets up voter registration booths during the Full Moon Festival and New Year's Festival annually.

"It depends but we usually get a few hundred applications," Bui said.

The group does not push an agenda or any candidates, he said, but there are clearly issues that Vietnamese-Americans have an interest in.

"We have fishermen, we have taxi drivers and a lot of students," he said. "Any issues that are related to us, that can affect our community, then yes, we would like our voice to be considered."

Bill Emmsley, outgoing director of the Samoan Service Providers Association, said most of his group's efforts have been focused on helping immigrants become naturalized U.S. citizens.

"But anyone that comes into our programs, we also ask them if they want to register to vote," Emmsley said.

While the groups The Advertiser spoke with are not advocating for any candidate, party or issue, statewide campaigns historically have targeted ethnic communities.

This year, for instance, the campaign of Sen. Daniel Akaka has made a concerted effort to draw Filipino and Korean voters.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.