§ 8.01-345.Lists of qualified persons to be prepared by jury commissioners; random selection process.

This section is the engine room of Virginia jury selection, describing how commissioners turn the general population into an actual list of jurors. By December 1 following their appointment, commissioners must submit a list of qualified residents — names, addresses, freeholder status, and occupations where available — drawn from people who meet the basic eligibility standard in § 8.01-337 and are not excluded or exempt under the sections that follow it. That master list then serves the court for a full twelve-month term starting the following calendar year.

The selection itself has to be random, whether done manually, mechanically, or electronically, drawing on voter registration rolls and, where practical, driver’s license records from the Department of Motor Vehicles, along with local directories, phone books, tax rolls, and any other source the chief judge approves. Commissioners weed out deceased and clearly unqualified people first, then run the randomly selected names through the statutory exemptions and exceptions — applying those rules after the random draw, not before, so the randomness stays intact.

The section also draws jurisdictional lines: a city’s list generally cannot include county residents, and vice versa, except where the city and county courts share concurrent jurisdiction. The City of Franklin and Southampton County get a specific carve-out, splitting their combined jury pool in proportion to each locality’s population rather than following the general separation rule.