Boone driver’s license office

to briefly close for state’s

identity system change
BY SCOTT NICHOLSON

The drivers’ license office in Boone will be closing briefly next week, part of a changeover designed to increase identity security.

The Watauga County office, located at 4469 Bamboo Road, will close at 8 a.m. on Thursday, July 23 and reopen at 1 p.m. Watauga County’s is one of 16 offices that will be temporarily closed to change over to a new system of issuing licenses.

The new process is called “central issuance,” which is designed to protect against identity theft and address fraud. Officials say it’s the latest measure undertaken by the state to protect against identity theft and the illegal reproduction of drivers’ licenses.

Under the new process, customers renewing their licenses or applying for new licenses will still visit the Boone office to take required tests and have identification photographs made. However, instead of receiving licenses over the counter and on the spot, customers will receive a driving certificate valid for 20 days while their personal information is verified and the license is processed and mailed to the driver by the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles. The current driver’s license can be kept as a photograph ID until the new license card arrives.

Most licenses will be mailed within seven to 10 days. The DMV encourages drivers to renew their licenses early in order to receive the new one before the expiration date of the current license. Drivers can renew licenses for up to six months before their birthday renewal date.

The sixteen license offices making the change are in the western portion of the state. The move to central issuance began in 2008, and all 114 license offices in the state are expected to complete the change by autumn.

More information is at www.ncdot.gov/dmv