I learned some interesting things about the Georgia government today and I also learned that being summoned for jury duty and forgetting to take a book makes for one of the most boring days possible.  In light of missing work for the day to be a responsible juror candidate, I decided I was going to knock out as many of those civic duties as I possibly could and also took advantage of the Georgia early voting program to cast my ballot for the November 4th election.

My day of jury duty started with me dragging my far-from-awake self out of bed around 6:30.  Now to some of you, that’s not a big deal and sounds like a normal day.  But for those that know the extent of my days, if the time doesn’t start with a 9 when I roll over and look at the alarm clock, my day is off to a bad start.  But nonetheless, I rolled out of bed, got ready to go and headed off towards downtown.  As with most things that involve going into downtown, I most feared the hunt for parking, but the Underground deck is right across the street from the courthouse and had plenty of open spots.

I relate the security line at the courthouse to that of a small-town airport where the TSA agents think they have something to prove, thereby slowing down the entire process for everyone.  In the grand scheme of things, Hartsfield’s really got the process figured out for getting people through security, but that’s not a big help when you’re at the Fulton County courthouse.  So after about half an hour, I made it through and headed off to juror check-in, took a seat and sat there waiting.

After the orientation video and a few of the judges talking, we sat some more and they started calling groups of jurors to head back to their courtrooms for the screening and interview process.  First a group of 25, then 48, then 60, 25 more, 50 more, 28 more…….how they choose the number of jurors to screen for any given trial is beyond me, but anyways, this process repeated itself for awhile and the number of people dwindled down in the room.  Except there was no dwindling from me.  I just sat there.  Some other people have obviously had jury duty before.  They brought books and newspapers and crossword puzzles, and I, brought nothing.

So I continued to sit there on my BlackBerry, trying to find as many ways as possible to entertain myself before my thumbs fell off from overuse.  Thanks to everyone that chatted with me and entertained me in the world of GoogleTalk, otherwise, I may have gone insane.  And to anyone annoyed by my seemingly minute-by-minute account of my day on Twitter….I apologize, but I was bored.

Finally, after they had called no less than 500 potential jurors, they told the rest of us that we could go and they wouldn’t be needing us today.  Strangely, at this point, I really wanted to at least go through the process and see what it was all about.  I mean, for that kind of time investment, I should at least get something more than the $25 per diem check, right?  But either way, I did it; civic duty number one done for the day.

Earlier in the day, I overheard one of the ladies sitting behind me talking about the Georgia Early/Advance Voting Program and how there was a location right across the street from the courthouse.  I vote in about one of three elections for the following reasons:  It takes time out of my day, I never know where I’m supposed to go to vote, and honestly, sometimes I just forget.  So I did a little research from the BlackBerry (remember, it’s not like I really had much else to do while I was sitting there) and overall, it’s a pretty cool thing to increase voter turnout.  They have early voting starting September 22nd and advance voting in the week before the election.

I wandered across Pryor Street to the voting location, filled out the form for an early voting absentee ballot (you don’t need a reasoning for receiving an early voting absentee ballot, just the desire to cast your vote) and took a seat for about 5-10 minutes.  Once my form was processed, they called my name, gave me my voter card and pointed me in the direction of the polls.  So I took an extra half hour out of the day and cast my ballot.  Civic duty number two, complete.

All in all, it feels like a pretty fulfilling day, but just a heads-up for anyone heading to jury duty………bring a book.