Harris County District Clerk Chris Daniel joined San Jacinto College Central Campus’ College Republicans for Constitution Day on Sept. 17 to discuss the role technology plays in upholding constitutional rights.

At the event, Daniels highlighted Harris County’s online services that help residents exercise their constitutional rights.  Rescheduling jury service is among the most common reasons residents contact the Clerk’s office.  By logging onto their website, www.hcdistrictclerk.com, the public is only a click away (or a tap on a touch screen mobile device) from rescheduling jury service up to three times within a six month span.

According to Daniels, other services now offered through the web include online background checks, access to child support records, checking court dates, and checking for the status of criminal cases. Small business owners can use the website to receive an automatic email if a civil petition is filed against them.

“You don’t have to leave your house or leave your tablet from wherever you’re on vacation or out of town and that’s my goal is, to make as easy as possible for you all to do any of your constitutional functions with me anywhere in the world,” Daniels said.

President of the College Republicans, Jarrod Keeling, said he enjoyed Daniel’s presentation and agreed with the symbiotic relationship between technology and government.

“Technology has changed everything about how we get involved with government….it’s a revolution in transparency and so people can know what the government is doing and know how they feel about know how to get involved.  It’s a great thing and I’m glad Chris talked about that,” Keeling said.

Daniels also told the audience about some of the historical documents that are in The Harris County District Clerk’s Historic Document Reading Room, which is open to the public and contains court cases dating back to 1837.  Among the documents, is a case that was filed against Beatles’ member John Lennon’s second wife, Yoko Ono.

Voter registration booths were set up outside of the ballroom where students could register to vote after the presentation.