More than 66,000 Marylanders may be subject to a statewide driver’s license/identification card recall unless they satisfy document requirements to comply with the federally-mandated REAL ID process. The State will begin recalling non-compliant licenses/identification cards in June.
The REAL ID Act establishes minimum security standards for license issuance and production and prohibits Federal agencies from accepting for certain purposes driver’s licenses and identification cards from states not meeting the Act’s minimum standards.
According to Eye On Annapolis:
The overall deadline for obtaining a REAL ID is October 1, 2020, but more than 66,300 Marylanders with a new REAL ID star license or identification card have not yet filed the required documents. These people have been contacted by the Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration (MDOT MVA) multiple times since December and need to bring those documents to the MDOT MVA by June to complete the process. Without those documents, MDOT MVA will start flagging the affected driver’s licenses and identification cards in June as “recalled.”
The recall of a driver’s license will make the physical card invalid. Customers would still be licensed drivers, but if pulled over by law enforcement, they would have their driver’s licenses confiscated. To avoid this, customers who are part of this group MUST come to a MDOT MVA branch with the required documents as soon as possible and are urged to make an appointment. Affected customers have received three notices via email since December that warn of the June 2019 deadline. They will receive three additional notices in the coming weeks via email and the U.S. Postal Service.
“It’s very important that MDOT MVA customers who have received REAL ID notifications pay attention to the deadlines and provide documents to their nearest branch as soon as possible,” said MDOT MVA Administrator Chrissy Nizer.
Passed by Congress in 2005, the REAL ID Act complies with the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the federal government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses.”
Beginning October 1, 2020, every traveler must present a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license, or another acceptable form of identification, to fly within the United States. TSA has launched a public awareness campaign about the upcoming identification changes to ensure that every traveler is prepared for the airport security checkpoint process when the REAL ID Act goes into full enforcement.
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