PROFILE SOFTWARE 703 Market Street Suite 1308 San Francisco, CA 94103 Walk a Precinct Electronically Political Software for the Masses For Immediate Release Saturday, September 24, 1994 Contact: Charlie Gallie Profile Software (415)512-9660 (415)512-9661 FAX profile@netcom.com San Francisco--Profile Software announces the release of Precinct Walker version 2.3 a DOS Shareware database program for campaign volunteers to walk a precinct by telephone. Precinct Walker takes advantage of the millions of home computers available to help organize a candidate's supporters, get absentee ballot applications out, raise funds, recruit other volunteers, collect information and get out the vote. This is a Shareware product and the requested single user registration fee is $25.00, but users can download the entire program for free and determine whether this tool will be useful to them. Precinct Walker can be used for organizing voters for any candidate or cause. Huge volume discounts are available for any campaign or cause wishing to purchase multiple licenses. The intent is that this program will be used by campaigns across the country, whether they pay for it or not, to organize the grassroots that seems more apathetic and cynical than usual. Democrats have historically developed precinct organizations to get out their voters. This program attempts to use all of the new technology to automate the fund raising, voter identification, distribution of applications for absentee ballots, and get out the vote efforts. The next release of Precinct Walker, free to all registered users, and available in early October, will have a new get out the vote (GOTV) module. This fax-in function will allow a volunteer to produce a list of the voters in their precinct and to go to the polls and determine who has voted. This list can then be faxed in to the headquarters where it will be automatically read into a computer and automatically translated from fax to data and the files can be brought up to the minute. With this automatic update of the computer files volunteers can be assigned to call voters who have not voted by the time the voter said they usually vote. This program can be downloaded off of the Electronic Information Highway using the Internet. Users are encouraged to copy this program and give it to their friends for evaluation. They are encouraged to copy it to their favorite Bulletin Board Systems or Electronic Mail Systems. Our hope is that it will be tried by as many people as possible. This program is not only a first attempt to electioneer in cyberspace, but to distribute the software the same way. As David Wilhelm, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic National Committee(DNC) said in their recent press release: "In addition to the $2 million contribution to the DCCC, the DNC will contribute $8 million to State Democratic Coordinated Campaigns. Democratic Coordinated Campaigns across the country help Democratic candidates best use their campaign resources through joint efforts to update voter files, oversee voter registration and absentee voter drives, purchase generic and GOTV advertising, and most importantly, run professional election day operations. "With historically low turnout in midterm elections, it is crucial to energize Democratic base voters," said Wilhelm. "That's where coordinated campaigns come into play. By working together in a coordinated grassroots effort, Democrats can best identify and contact our voters now with the goal of turning out as many of our supporters as possible on election day." All of which Precinct Walker can easily do. This software was originally designed so homeless people could be put to work raising funds for a Democratic Presidential candidate. For volunteers or campaigns unable to access the Network, Precinct Walker is available by calling, faxing, or writing Profile Software. Additional software programs are available from Profile Software including a program called Philly, a fund raising event manager. Additional information is available from Profile Software, 703 Market Street, Suite 1308, San Francisco, CA 94103 (415)512-9660 Tel (415)512-9661 FAX profile@netcom.com Email. This program can be downloaded by FTP at ftp.netcom.com. The program is in the directory ftp/pub/profile. It will also be available on CompuServe, AOL, and the Well as soon as possible. -30- Please feel free, in fact encouraged, to distribute this announcement in all appropriate places.