A press release from the McHenry County Circuit Court:

Twenty Second Judicial Circuit Launches Online Juror Affidavit and Questionnaire

The seal of the 22nd District Circuit Court.

WOODSTOCK, IL – Eighteen months ago the Twenty Second Judicial Circuit of McHenry County, the Jury Commission Office and the Office of the Trial Court Administrator began exploring possibilities of developing an online juror affidavit/questionnaire.

It was determined that Justice Systems Inc., which is the current provider of the information management system Jury+Next Generation, was in the process of developing such a system.

In December of 2011, Justice Systems Inc. was contracted to develop an integrated online system which would allow prospective jurors to securely log into the system via the internet, update their information and answer questions concerning their eligibility to serve as a juror.

After a thorough development and testing phase, the new online system Jury+Web Solution went “live” on September 27, 2012.

Prospective jurors will still receive the affidavit/questionnaire via the United States Postal Service.

At that point, the prospective juror has 2 options:

• the prospective juror can either log into the system via the Jury Commission’s portal or
• the juror can complete the affidavit/questionnaire in written form and return it to the Jury Commission Office.

A prospective juror, once logged into the system, can review and correct their name and address information, and is linked to the affidavit/questionnaire. The affidavit/questionnaire is an electronic “form” specifically tailored to capture the information necessary to qualify the prospective juror. Prospective jurors may use JURY+ Web Solution to:

• Provide or update their personal information
• Answer questions relating to their qualifications as a prospective juror

JURY+Web Solution fully automates the process of updating the JURY+Next Generation database with the data submitted on the web “form”. An image of the submitted “form” is automatically stored in a secure electronic format and can only be retrieved by network users with appropriate security authorization. Qualification and excuse requests submitted via the web form can be granted or routed to a designated user for review, based on the Court’s business practices.

The Court is looking to JURY+ Web Solution to:

• Reduce the cost of postage, handling, sorting, filing of affidavit/questionnaires and other documents
• Provide better service to citizens of McHenry County and the Court
• Reduce or eliminate lost and damaged documents
• Achieve better efficiency in the juror affidavit process

The total cost of the project was $13,350 with an ongoing support and maintenance contract.

Additional information about the McHenry County Jury Commission can be found at www.22ndcircuitillinois.org and by clicking on the Jury Commission link on the left side of the web page.