BOISE — Drivers’ license services were shut down again today after the system went out Tuesday morning.
The Idaho Sheriff's Association voiced their frustrations Tuesday over the outages and overall level of service.
Today, the Idaho Transportation Department announced they are putting an emergency extension in place for Idahoans with expired licenses. This ahead of the fix that's supposed to be implemented Thursday.
ITD told KTVB that all Idahoans whose license has expired or is set to expire soon will be granted an extension until October 31.
Meanwhile, the system is supposed to be fixed by Thursday but many customers remain skeptical.
It’s a similar story for many Idahoans across the state trying to get a driver’s license.
“I probably went to the DMV, I think about seven times,” said Mele Thompson.
“About four times now, and every time I have been, something happens and everyone goes home,” said Jeremy Kitzhaber.
Thompson and Kitzhaber say they've tried repeatedly to get a license only to be turned away due to system malfunctions, and it’s getting old.
“It’s been a little frustrating because it’s like, my license is expired, it’s from out of state, what am I supposed to do,” said Thompson.
“It’s not like everybody can take off work seven different times or they can but they are inconvenienced every single time,” said Kitzhaber.
“We know that happens a lot when people go to the DMV, it takes time even before we had these issues, it does take time to go to the DMV and people know that,” said ITD spokesman Vince Trimboli.
Trimboli says because of the constant outages the department has now put an emergency extension in place.
“We have submitted the paperwork today, we have notified all sheriffs as well that any license that is expired will be extended through October 31st,” said Trimboli.
Trimboli says local, state and national law enforcement are aware of the extension as well. He added that while drivers’ license services should be fixed by Thursday, they are still looking for a long-term solution.
“Sheriff Bartlett and Sheriff Donahue stepped up yesterday and both said that they want to work with us and we look forward to getting to the table with them, the governor has already set up a meeting with all of the stakeholders together at the table to have discussions and really figure what the best long-term solution will be for the state of Idaho,” said Trimboli.
The emergency extension applies to all credentials including permits and commercial driver’s licenses as well.
We also reached out to get reaction from the vendor. A spokesperson with Gemalto replied by saying:
"Gemalto is working closely with ITD to identify the root cause and implement a solution, but we are unable to comment beyond that or give interviews at this time."