Driver’s license renewal fiasco
SUBMITTED BY A LOCAL RESIDENT
I am an 80-year-old lady who has been driving for 62
years, and stopped in at the driver’s license department
to renew my driver’s license. They informed me the
photo machine was not operating, and I should come
back at another time (hours, days, weeks?).
I returned a week later. They asked if I wanted the
Standard, Real ID, or Enhanced license. I asked what
the differences are. I was handed a seven-page sheet to
read and decide. I took it home.
The seven pages telling me the difference were
confusing; only how to go about filling out each
option.
Other proofs I needed listed on the seven sheets
included:
1. Proof of date of birth (one document from list A),
seven choices.
2. Proof of full legal name (one document from list
B), 23 choices.
3. Proof of original Social Security card (one
document from list C), five choices.
4. Proof of photographic number (one document from
list D), 10 choices.
5. Proof of United States citizenship (one document
from list E), five choices.
6. Proof of Minnesota residency (two documents
from list F), 20 choices.
7. Last unpaid utility bill, or other unpaid bills with
only my name and address.
I was also given a yellow information sheet with
about 20 questions to bring in next time. There were no
obvious answers to questions going through my mind,
which would seem important in obtaining a license
renewal.
Can I travel to Canada or Mexico? Board a plane?
Travel to a foreign country? Do I walk with a walker?
Do I use a cane? Are my right leg and arm paralyzed?
Can I see out of both eyes? Have I passed the “55 and
Alive” class? Do my four DUIs count against me? Do
my five speeding tickets last year count against me?
Am I on illegal drugs? How about a urine test right
now? Am I on drugs that prevent me from driving? Do
I smoke marijuana? Do I have car insurance? Are my
license tabs up-to-date? Do I text while I drive? Have I
ever served time in prison? How many car crashes have
I had? Am I an illegal immigrant? Do I have a copy of
my original driver’s license test from 60 years ago?
No, they didn’t ask any of these questions.
I took the seven sheets home and returned a few
weeks later, with all the documents in hand, including:
1. A copy of my birth certificate. They do not take
copies. It must be certified and original.
2. A copy of my marriage license. They do not take
copies. It must be certified and orignal.
3. An up-to-date Social Security card. Mine still had
my maiden name on it from 60 years ago. The clerk was
at a loss how I got along for 60 years without updating
it. (They didn’t ask for it when I applied for Social
Security.)
Well, where do I get all these documents I’m missing?
The clerk didn’t tell me I could go over into the next clearly states in bold letters (so a person doesn’t miss it?)
is that I am allowed to visit nuclear sites and military
cubical and get them from the recorder’s office.
bases in the US. (You would think those places should
I returned about one week later.
The clerk took me over to the eye machine. Do I see be very secure. Almost any person could walk in with
two lights; one light? At one point, I was supposed to something dangerous in a backpack.)
Meanwhile, a young man (age 16 or so) and his mother
see two lights, but only saw one. (I wear glasses and
see 20/20.) The clerk was at a loss as to why that was. came in – obviously from a foreign country – getting
his first driver’s license. He had his photo taken, filled
(Maybe a technical problem?) She’ll call it okay.
The not-too-friendly clerk started on the paperwork out a few papers, and was out of there in five minutes.
The other, very friendly clerk said, “Now you can
by getting a big marriage book from 1959, and finding
my original marriage license. She was not allowed to drive,” as she handed him his driving permit papers.
I asked my clerk how would I have gotten a certified
take it out of the book and photocopy it. She had to
fill out a new blank form stating my maiden name, copy of my birth certificate if I was born and married
husband’s name, bridesmaid’s and best man’s names, in a different state.
She said, I would have to contact that state or
priest’s name, church’s name, town and state, and
county.
dates.
I asked her, if it has to be an original copy, how
She spent about five minutes typing all this, and slid
it over to me to see if everything was okay. She spelled can they remove it from their books and send it to
the priest’s last name wrong. She had to do the whole Glencoe?
She stated, “That would be your problem.”
thing over again, and slid it over to me for my approval.
If I walked 1,000 miles from a foreign country with
She spelled the priest’s first name wrong. The slightly-
only the clothes on my back, how would I get those
irritated clerk had to do it all over again.
I brought in a nice, yellow copy of my birth certificate papers from the country I left? Maybe I was born in a
hut, and my birth wasn’t recorded.
which looked original to me, but was unacceptable.
The clerk had to find an
original in a huge book
from 1939; that seemed to
satisfy the situation.
Meanwhile,
other
papers were being slid
back-and-forth. My mind
was a blur. I had to fill
out one more clerk-typed
An Acorn Stairlift is the
questionaire, which took
perfect solution to use the
about five minutes, and
stairs if you suffer from:
then I realized I put the
address on the wrong line.
� Arthritis or COPD
The clerk had to type it all
over again. Now she was
� Joint pain in your feet,
knees or back
really getting irritated.
The clerk asked if I
� Mobility issues when
would donate $2 to the
using the stairs
organ donor’s medical
fund. The marriage and
A+
Rating
birth certificate charge
was $9. Enhanced license
was $41. The total bill was
SPECIAL OFFER
$52.
She crowded two sheets
CALL NOW TO RECEIVE
of paper into a 2-inch-by-
3-inch envelope, and said
I could drive with that;
TOWARD THE PURCHASE OF
stating it would take about
A NEW ACORN STAIRLIFT!
two months to get the
single card. I can’t close
my billfold, because the
envelope is too fat. Total
time? About 35 minutes.
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Senior
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