Just When I Write Getting An ID Is Easy

Filed Under BMV

Right after I write about how it isn’t that complicated to get an identification card at the Indiana BMV comes news that people are having problems getting driver’s licenses because their birth certificates don’t match information kept on file with the Social Security Administration.

Writes the Post-Tribune’s Karen Snelling:

The state Bureau of Motor Vehicles is strictly enforcing rules that could drive scores of area residents into court.

People like Crown Point resident Illa Wallace Carstens say they have been forced to hire lawyers to get their names changed to what they’ve been all or most of their lives.

Carstens and other Northwest Indiana residents called the Post-Tribune on Monday to relay problems they’ve been having with the BMV when trying to get their driver’s license renewed after reading a story in Monday’s paper about a Lake Station man with a similar problem. All have different names on their Social Security cards than their birth certificate.

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Comments

4 Responses to “Just When I Write Getting An ID Is Easy”

Steve Dalton on January 8th, 2008 1:12 pm

Chris, my thought is that although a pain, this is probably a good exercise for an American citizen to make sure that their identification documents match. In an era of identity theft, I’d like to be sure that I am who I am.
Chris on January 8th, 2008 4:13 pm

Hi Steve,

I agree with you.

While it might be a hassle, it keeps people from “gaming” the system by getting identification from various agencies in slightly different names.

This is showing that agencies in the past weren’t very strict in making sure that identification documents matched up with birth certificates.
Zachary Reinoehl on January 9th, 2008 11:31 pm

Chris, I don’t see that there is a reasonable alternative. It seems to me to be a simple issue. It may be that illegal immigrants are being disenfranchised, but I certainly don’t remember them having the constitutional right to vote in the first place. As for the rest of us, we are perfectly capable of obtaining the necessary identification. People may be having trouble at the BMV, but they should remember why it is we have these ID’s in the first place, and be grateful for any improvements to the system. I, for one, find this scrutiny strangely comforting considering our recent history.
Chris on January 10th, 2008 7:08 am

Thanks for stopping by Zachary.

I also feel the same way.

Even though some people might be inconvenienced because their birth certificates don’t match up with documents on file with the Social Security administration, it is worth the effort to ensure that Indiana’s identification documents remain secure from fraud since ID cards and drivers’ licenses are the cornerstone for determining who someone is (or isn’t) in our society.

If we loosen up the rules and allow people to make arbitrary name changes that don’t comply with their birth certificates, we open to door to exploitation of the system by people with bad intents because they can assume new identities by changing information on file at the state level.