Online driver’s license renewal fulfills one element of Chafee promise, but at a small price

Candidates are always pledging to eliminate government waste and improve efficiency. When he ran for governor, Lincoln Chafee said he would try to make it easier to do state business online at RI.gov, the state's main Internet portal.

"I will upgrade RI.gov to ensure that citizens can take maximum advantage of the public services they pay tax dollars to fund. The upgrade will include putting online government services that currently require a trip to state offices, such as making DMV appointments and renewing drivers' licenses. This initiative will make online services available for free."

The Chafee administration began making some progress on this promise last year (see story below). By August, 2011, long-distance truckers could get certain permits online, and engineers, landscape architects and land surveyors could renew their licenses through RI.gov. PolitiFact Rhode Island also reported that the administration was hoping to allow many drivers to renew their licenses online by Christmas 2011.

It's taken longer than expected, but the Chafee administration announced on May 10, 2012, that motorists are now able to make routine non-commercial license renewals online. (Commercial driver"s license renewals are not eligible because federal regulations say they must be done in person.)

Many motorists now can also renew their vehicle registrations online, except residents of Barrington, Central Falls, Exeter, South Kingstown and Warren, which restrict the process because of their systems to verify that you've paid your taxes.

Chafee had promised to make the online renewal services available for free.

But his administration hasn't quite lived up to that pledge. People who renew online must pay a $2 "enhanced access" fee. The reason: it costs extra to pay by credit card, but that's the only way to pay online. (In contrast, if you go in person to the DMV and pay by credit card, you're also charged extra, but that fee is $1.50.)

And the ability to schedule appointments with the DMV online has not yet been implemented.

At this stage, Chafee, who also gets credit for bringing down the DMV's aggravating wait time, is clearly making it easier to do business online with the state.

Ultimately, because part of his promise was a pledge to establish an online system for scheduling DMV appointments and that system is still not in place, we are continuing to rate this a promise In The Works.

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