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Things that work (jury duty)
Mar. 30th, 2018 12:38 pmI received in yesterday's mail a summons for jury duty -- my first in many years -- scheduled for mid-July in Woburn (MA). The card encouraged me to respond online, providing the URL of the relevant site, plus a "Badge #" and PIN for identification purposes.
One of the first things the web site offered was a list of reasons why one might be disqualified, which I looked at even though I was pretty sure I wouldn't meet any of the criteria, whereupon I learned that as a consequence of being over 70 I could opt out. However, I didn't really want to do that; I feel like I should do my jury service, and might find it interesting as well (although, in practice, the most likely result is that I'll be dismissed the first day without being put on a jury). But I wasn't enthusiastic about doing it in the middle of July, especially if I hit the lottery and ended up being on a long trial (as happened to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jwg when he was last called, more than 25 years ago), since I have a commitment for the first weekend in August.
Well, I knew that Massachusetts allows one to request one postponement, but I wasn't sure that I wouldn't end up with a worse date if I did that. But you never know till you try, and when I selected "request a postponement" it turned out that I could choose my date from any of the "available" dates within a year of the original date, so I selected December 10, 2018. While I was at it, I gave my email address and opted to have further notifications sent by email rather than paper.
Immediately after I completed the process, I received email acknowledging the postponement and assuring me that I would receive a notification 10 days before my service. Altogether it was an entirely painless process.
It's always nice to find the state getting something right.
One of the first things the web site offered was a list of reasons why one might be disqualified, which I looked at even though I was pretty sure I wouldn't meet any of the criteria, whereupon I learned that as a consequence of being over 70 I could opt out. However, I didn't really want to do that; I feel like I should do my jury service, and might find it interesting as well (although, in practice, the most likely result is that I'll be dismissed the first day without being put on a jury). But I wasn't enthusiastic about doing it in the middle of July, especially if I hit the lottery and ended up being on a long trial (as happened to
jwg when he was last called, more than 25 years ago), since I have a commitment for the first weekend in August.Well, I knew that Massachusetts allows one to request one postponement, but I wasn't sure that I wouldn't end up with a worse date if I did that. But you never know till you try, and when I selected "request a postponement" it turned out that I could choose my date from any of the "available" dates within a year of the original date, so I selected December 10, 2018. While I was at it, I gave my email address and opted to have further notifications sent by email rather than paper.
Immediately after I completed the process, I received email acknowledging the postponement and assuring me that I would receive a notification 10 days before my service. Altogether it was an entirely painless process.
It's always nice to find the state getting something right.
