Technically, their voter drive is PC

The early evening gathering in a sunlit hall of the Hibernian Hotel had all the trappings of an old-style political rally: festive balloons, free food, and hand-clasping candidates.

But the July 28 event in Dudley Square's Roxbury Center for the Arts was the official launch of RoxVote 2005, a voter mobilization effort emphasizing a new PC style of campaigning in Roxbury -- PC as in ''personal computer" -- using e-mail and websites.

''We utilize technology as a tool of civil engagement," said Nyvia Colon, director of computer technology programs at the Madison Park Development Corporation.

Colon's group is among 20 local organizations that have joined the nonpartisan, get-out-the-vote coalition to raise voter turnout in Roxbury by at least 10 percent in this year's mayoral and City Council elections.

And that means not only knocking on doors but running a website, roxvote.org, which will be unveiled Friday.

Roxbury residents will be contacted seven times about voting in this year's mayoral and City Council elections, coalition members say.

''We want to make a change," Will Dorcena, a coalition member, told the assembled.

''Voting is the first and most important step you take to make sure your voice is heard," he said. ''We don't care who you vote for, just go out there and vote."

''Make sure Roxbury gets as much respect as the South End, South Boston, Back Bay, and Jamaica Plain," he said.

Those attending the kickoff party were given a preview of the new website and asked to sign up to vote or volunteer.

About 250 volunteers are needed, according to organizers, to help with everything from mailings to phone banks. They were also asked to rate a list of 19 Roxbury issues for possible inclusion on a scorecard for candidates, who will be asked to take a position.

Among the proposed issues: reducing the cost of prescription drugs; requiring permanent repairs of potholes; allowing anyone to vote by absentee ballot for any reason; increasing MBTA bus service on Blue Hill Avenue; hiring more street police, homicide detectives, and 911 response staff; and improving Boston Public Schools.

The coalition hopes to continue the voter participation momentum from Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral's successful campaign last year, which signed up new voters in Boston's minority communities, said Tchintcia Barros of the Dudley Square Neighborhood Initiative.

Another impetus is a one-year $125,000 grant from the Ford Foundation and the Washington, D.C.-based Community Technology Centers, to empower communities through the use of computer technology, Grant said.

Nobody's discounting the impact of a rousing speech, however. ''Only when my son was killed in December 1993, did I become a US citizen," said Tina Cherry, founder of the Louis Brown Peace Institute, named after her son.

''I took responsibility, I helped to elect city officials," she told the crowd.

''Because of my son's death, I woke up. Don't wait for anything bad or worse to happen to you."

For 14-year-old Nikeala Porter, it was a video of the civil rights struggle of African-Americans produced by student interns at the Madison Park corporation's computer center that was a motivating force.

''The slide show really hit me," said Porter, who was here because her grandmother, Edna Thompson, was one of the speakers.

''If we don't vote, they went through all that for nothing."

''I didn't think voting was important, but now I think that every vote counts," Porter said.