Early voting in Illinois’s primary election wrapped up Thursday. To help boost turnout, the Board of Election Commissioners for Chicago says it mounted its biggest-ever publicity campaign targeting Latinos. But preliminary figures from the board show that turnout in heavily Latino areas still lagged far behind other parts of the city. And that’s got some activists worried about Latino turnout on Election Day.

The election board reached out to Latino parishes with help from Chicago’s Catholic archdiocese. The board bought $17,000 dollars of advertising in Spanish-language newspapers. And it teamed up with Telemundo and Chicago’s hottest Mexican band to produce this public-service announcement.

ADVERTISEMENT: Hola. Nosotros somos Montéz de Durango. Y queremos invitarte votar temprano en Chicago…

But, according to early-voting data from the board Thursday night, the five most heavily Latino wards had the city’s lowest turnout. And Juan Andrade, who heads the Chicago-based U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute, doesn’t expect parity on Election Day either.

ANDRADE: At least over the last 30 years, Latino voter turnout has been a good 10 percentage points below the general population.

Just a couple years ago, Latino activists in Chicago sparked a nationwide wave of huge marches demanding legalization of the nation’s estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.

But street energy does not equal political muscle. The Latino population remains relatively young, and young people tend to vote in smaller numbers. And, despite paying taxes, some Latinos aren’t eligible to cast a ballot because they’re not citizens. Juan José González of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights sees other problems as well.

GONZÁLEZ: Pundits like to talk about the growing Latino electorate and the growing Latino power. Very few people concentrate the funds and efforts to put troops on the ground to turn out these voters.

González has some suggestions for campaigns.

GONZÁLEZ: They need bilingual organizers or bilingual canvassers and volunteers to be able to deliver an effective message at the doors. Gimmicks such as, like, texting people to register to become voters or doing it via the Internet doesn’t necessarily work with our community. What you do need is a base of volunteers that knows the communities they’re working in, bringing them together, so that they can make informed decisions.

But a strong ground operation will only go so far if the candidate isn’t tackling issues that matter to Latinos. Opinion polls suggest that immigration reform remains a Latino priority. University of Illinois at Chicago political scientist María de los Angeles Torres says Republicans are addressing the issue…

DE LOS ANGELES TORRES: … but they’re talking about it in a very negative way.

Border walls, biometric IDs, mass deportations …

DE LOS ANGELES TORRES: …which will add to the increasing number of Latinos who are reportedly saying that they will not vote for the Republican Party. On the other hand, the Democratic Party candidates — now two of them, Clinton and Obama — have avoided for most of the campaign any reference to immigration.

MUÑOZ: We’re walking down 26th Street, which is basically the commercial center of Little Village.

Ald. Ricardo Muñoz is a leading local supporter of Barack Obama. His efforts to get out the vote include asking businesses in his Southwest Side ward to put up a blue poster that says, “Latinos for Obama: Sí, se puede!”

MUÑOZ: So that we can send a message this last weekend and people can get excited about the campaign.

He goes into a jewelry shop called Joyería El Tecolote.

MUÑOZ: (interaction with merchant).

But, back at his ward office, Muñoz shifts in his chair on the topic of whether Latinos are satisfied with their choices in the presidential primary.

MUÑOZ: Not totally, not totally. I mean, Barack, we’ve been working to make him a better candidate for Latinos, because you will never find a perfect candidate. The Senate Democrats made a mistake by voting for the wall in ‘06, and both Hillary and Barack made that mistake.

But Muñoz insists there are important differences between the two Democrats. And he predicts that Chicago Latinos, despite lagging in early voting, will turn out in record numbers on Tuesday.