In an effort to alleviate long lines in county Division of Motor Vehicle driver’s licensing offices, the Idaho Transportation Department will provide citizens with licenses that expire in November and December an option to renew driver’s licenses and identification cards by mail.
ITD has been exploring potential solutions to assist county DMV offices after vendor technological issues forced statewide driver’s license offices to close for nearly a week in August. Offices reopened in late August, but long lines of customers seeking services continue in many counties.
The DMV will send all citizens with licenses expiring in November and December a form so they can opt to renew by mail, instead of going to physical offices. Mail-in renewals also will be available in county offices that process and provide driver’s license services. ITD will track the number of mail-in renewals and work with the Idaho Sheriffs’ Association to decide whether or not there’s a need to extend the process past the end of the year.
Since an ITD interim solution was implemented after the August outage, the system is stable. Transaction times however have been slower, contributing to longer lines in some offices.
There are two notable exceptions to mail-in renewal. STAR cards, or Real ID cannot be done by mail as they require specific documents to be delivered in person to meet federal requirements. Also, Commercial Driver’s Licenses are not available by mail.
Anyone with questions my contact the DMV Customer Care Center at (208) 334-8736. (Idaho Transportation Department)
