# How do they select jury duty candidates? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2000, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-select-jury-duty-candidates/25211 "2000-07-11T13:50:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Viscera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/258eb7/32.png) [@Viscera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viscera)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2000, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-select-jury-duty-candidates/25211/1 "2000-07-11T13:50:09Z")
Title says it all. My wife has been living here in Omaha with me for the past year. She got a jury duty notice from Los Angeles County (CA) last year requiring jury duty service. She sent it back saying she does not live in-state anymore. Well, yesterday they mailed another notice to her old home (where her parents live). My question is this: I’m assuming that selection is based on voting registration? How do they select candidates? Is it from a pool of people, or is it pretty uniform (i.e. everyone gets selected eventually)? Thanks in advance guys. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2000, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-select-jury-duty-candidates/25211/2 "2000-07-11T13:58:38Z")
The process varies among jurisdictions, even within a state. My county government uses the voter resgistration database as the selection pool. A computer spits out a list (presumably random) of people to call and the notice is sent. State and Federal courts may operate differently. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2000, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-select-jury-duty-candidates/25211/3 "2000-07-11T14:01:26Z")
potential candidates are taken from public rolls such as voter registration or driver’s licenses. they are selected at random. The funny thing about a random selection is that individual oddities are common, so that it is not unusual for the some individual to get selected more often, and some other individual not selected at all. the lists aren’t updated that often (usually once a year or so), so, it’s entirely possible for your wife to get more than one , even tho’ she told them she moved. I’ve heard of folks being summoned to jury duty after they died. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2000, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-select-jury-duty-candidates/25211/4 "2000-07-11T21:02:44Z")
That’s cause , at least in Chicago, they still vote after they die. Fair is fair, you know. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2000, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-select-jury-duty-candidates/25211/5 "2000-07-11T21:09:37Z")
“in Chicago they still vote after they die” is that the old “one corpse, one vote” that I remember from history??? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-select-jury-duty-candidates/25211/6 "2000-07-12T01:18:43Z")
This document is six years old (1994), but I suppose most of the information is still current. [THE MANAGEMENT OF JURIES WITHIN LOS ANGELES COUNTY](http://eec.co.la.ca.us/pubfiles/courts/9412-Juries.htm) A Report by The Citizens Economy and Efficiency Commission of Los Angeles County (December 1994) [VI. LOS ANGELES COUNTY’S JURY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: B. Source Lists and Selection](http://eec.co.la.ca.us/pubfiles/courts/9412-Juries.htm#source) > [@](#): > > At present, Los Angeles County uses, as do Orange and Ventura Counties, two source lists for jurors: the list of registered voters from the County Registrar of Voters, and the Department of Motor Vehicles list of licensed drivers and identification card holders resident within the area served by the Court. [Figure #2-(1)] These two lists are purged of duplicate names, invalid addresses, et cetera, thus creating a master list. > > This master list is compiled annually by the Juror Services Division as required by the Code of Civil Procedure, Section 198, and currently contains approximately 3,500,000 names.[10] The two source lists, from which the master list is created, are estimated by Court personnel to cover approximately 85% of the County’s jury eligible population. > > The Code of Civil Procedure states, “. . .that all persons selected for jury service be selected at random [Figure #2-(2)] from a source, or sources, inclusive of a representative cross section of the adult population of the area served by the court.” Sources may also include such lists as telephone subscriber lists, utility subscriber lists, customer mailing lists, or similar compilations. > > \ > > In the State of New York, the Office of Court Administration has used three source lists to compile the state’s master list of eligible jurors: voter registration rolls, drivers’ licenses, and state income tax rolls. New York estimates that these three lists cover 90% of eligible jurors.[12] New York State recently announced it will require that its pool of prospective jurors include people drawn from welfare and unemployment rolls.[13]