State service kiosk plan touted
By AARON CHAMBERS, Register Star Springfield Bureau
SPRINGFIELD — Vehicle registration renewal and other services would be available at kiosks around Illinois under a plan Secretary of State Jesse White advanced Monday.
White, via a published notice, asked businesses for information he could use to develop the concept of kiosks. Other services that could be performed at the kiosks include:
# Organ donor registration.
# Voter registration. The secretary of state collects registration applications and passes them along to local officials, who register voters.
# Driver’s license renewal for those qualifying as safe drivers, who renew their licenses once every eight years. White spokesman Randy Nehrt said drivers not eligible for the safe driver renewal probably would still need to go to a secretary of state facility to renew their licenses.
“I think there potentially could be other services,” he added. “This office operates 20 different departments, and there may be other services we could incorporate over time into the kiosks.”
Nehrt said White wants to partner with a company that can administer the kiosk program at no cost the state. The vendor could earn money by charging “convenience fees” or selling advertising.
Businesses responding to the secretary’s request must do so by June 8.
Nehrt said the time frame for getting the kiosks up and running would depend on those responses. “We’re just at an information-gathering stage.”