Oh there are a lot of variations, but post #14 was about it being inconvenient to call in every day. Just pointing out it can be a lot more inconvenient to have to show up every day, which is what they had to do when I worked in a courtroom. We have the 1day/1trial rule too, but you are on call for those 5 days. Once you go in, you’re clear even if you weren’t selected for a jury.
If the jurisdiction had 1 day/1 trial, and you get called more often, they you have to clear your schedule more often. If you don’t get called in or don’t serve on a jury, you are still in the pool.
When I was first called to jury duty in 1977 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, we reported to the jury room every week day (and stayed all day) for a month. Even if you served on a trial you were sent back to the jury room until the end of the month. We played a lot of cards, pitched pennies down the hall and gave each other nicknames. Every now and then they’d call numbers and the chosen potential jurors would be led up to a courtroom by a guy carrying a pole. Usually you ended up back in the jury room.
In the jurisdiction that I am in, it is one day or one trial, and being on call for the day counts as completing jury service for the year, whether or not one is actually called in or put on a trial.
It’s not that calling in every day is inconvenient, it’s that you basically have to clear your schedule for the whole week, because you can’t be sure if or when you will have to come in. With the system my county uses, it’s most likely that you wouldn’t even be chosen for the jury, and it’s usually only one day involved.
Of course, there is always that one in a million chance that you could be chosen for a big case that could last a long time, but it’s slim. A coworker of mine was once chosen for a jury for a high profile case that lasted six weeks. Some of that time, they were sequestered. But the chances for that happening to a given individual is pretty minuscule.
I have NEVER been called, although I’ve been registered to vote for 38 years. My dad, for religious reasons, didn’t register to vote until he was in his 60s. He finally changed his views and registered. He was called within a month!
Write that you would request to postpone your jury duty because you have a vacation planned and have already paid for it. (Then go pay for the hotel you are staying at.)
Different states/locations do things differently. In Wisconsin years ago I was summoned for jury duty where I could be called for alternate months during a 6 month period. Nothing happened until a week or two before our planned vacation (for AFTER my time was up). I went and even got to make some statement when they questioned me that would perhaps have caused problems- even a mistrial- during the trial per one of the lawyers I spoke to afterwards. Some insurance thing- I mentioned deep pockets, am a physician. Gee, they did not want me but did not eliminate me before I got to make the statement.
Retired to Florida- Tampa. H got his summons for one time- was so cold he got excused that day by that judge and got a letter from a local MD for a permanent excuse. He really suffered in the air conditioning. I got a summons for a cattle call where I spent the morning waiting around and was not chosen. I have no idea when I could next be up- no time window like in WI. I do know people could put info about plans on the form submitted.
I don’t know if knowing one could be called up (and miss income, pay for sitter- more than compensation) only during a certain time frame or having it unknown is better.
But- you do not get to choose how your location does things. Never considered it, even among top 100 reasons to live in one place versus another. Uniformity does not exist- should it???