Clinton Circuit Court Clerk Jake Staton is shown above holding his new Voluntary Travel ID (VTID), also referred to as Kentucky Real ID, that citizens in Kentucky must have by October. 1, 2020, if they plan on traveling aboard an airplane. Staton said he made the trip to the regional office in Somerset where residents from this region can go to get the new ID, on a Friday afternoon. After submitting the proper identificatiuon documents during the application process, he was issued a temporary VTID and he received his new permanent card about 10 days later.

Staton said that the entire process from entering the office to leaving with his temporary ID was about 10 minutes. The location of the regional office is 650 North Main Street, in Gateway Center at the junction of North Main Street and Ky. 80 bypass.

Staton urged residents wanting to obtain a Kentucky REAL ID to not wait until the October deadline was near, as that could cause the centers issuing the documents to have large crowds and longer wait times.

The website for information about what to bring with you to get a Real ID driver’s license is www.drive.ky.gov.

Staton noted that when he went for his REAL ID, he took his original birth certificate and two other proofs of address and his current W-2, since at the time his original Social Security card was laminated, and regulations then noted that laminated Social Security cards would not be accepted.

However, he told the NEWS this week that since that time, his office, and all Circuit Clerk’s offices across Kentucky had received instructions that going forward, laminated Social Security cards would, in fact, be accepted.

That email, from Lori Woods, Resource Management Analyst with the Kentucy Transportation Cabinet’s Division of Driver Licensing, said: “Effective immediately, with guidance from the Department of Homeland Security, it is now permissible for Circuit Clerks and their staff to accept laminated documents for the issuance of driver’s licenses and ID cards. This statement is true for the issuance of standard and REAL ID credentials.”