Bonner County jury commissioner explains new electronic jury system, summons process and juror pay

Bonner County Jury Commissioner (Bonner County Jury Commissioner) told residents that the county moved last year to a statewide electronic jury management (EJM) system and described how summonses, confirmations and exemptions now work.

The briefing detailed why some residents have received duplicate summonses after the county’s system change, how jurors are selected from Idaho driver’s-license and voter-registration lists, what jurors must do after they receive a summons, and how juror pay and supports (counseling, comfort measures and anti‑scam guidance) are handled.

The EJM conversion and selection process

“Jurors are selected randomly based off their Idaho driver's license and their voter registration,” the Jury Commissioner said, explaining that the county moved from a one-month term-of-service model to assigning jurors to a single trial and, as of January, has used the new EJM software used by almost all Idaho counties. The commissioner said most Bonner County terms now average about eight days, compared with two-to-six-month terms still used in many other counties in the state.

The commissioner said about 65,000 to 80,000 names currently appear in Bonner County’s EJM database and that duplicate files—often created when people change addresses or maintain multiple addresses—have led to some residents…