SPRINGFIELD (ILLINOIS CAPITOL BUREAU) -- Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White hopes to speed up your wait time at driver services facilities. His office launched an online pre-registration application for driver's licenses and state ID cards on Friday. White says the can improve efficiency of transactions and allow for proper social distancing at facilities.
Employees can access customer information by scanning a barcode on the application receipt.
"We estimate it saves a few minutes per transaction," said Spokesman Henry Haupt. "So the more people use the preregistration, we will see the lines move quicker and wait times will decrease significantly."
Customers still have to bring required paperwork to driver facilities in order to verify their information with employees. Customers must have a current driver's license or state ID card in order to use the online application. The Secretary of State's office says people can use the preregistration option to change an address or other minor corrections. Haupt says this allows customers to have control over their own information, and they can bring the receipt for employees to scan.
"If for some reason you don't bring in the piece of paper with the barcode, that's okay. Just let our public service representative know your driver's license number. We can pull up your file and your information will already be keyed in for you."
He says customers should keep in mind the driver's facilities are still practicing social distancing, so there may be lines outside. The facilities are only serving customers with expired driver's licenses and new drivers through July 31. However, the expiration dates for licenses, state ID cards, and vehicle registration sticks will extend until October 1.
