Maine’s waiver for compliance with the Real ID Act runs out next month, and the state’s not ready, so it has applied for another two-year extension until October of 2020.
The legislature has long been resistant to the law on privacy grounds and, in 2007, it passed a law prohibiting the state from participating. But ten years later, it passed another law saying that Maine would comply with the federal law.
Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap says implementation will be expensive, about $2 million, but, “We anticipate having the ability to issue real ids by July 1, 2019.”
The request for an extension, from the Department of Homeland Security, is pending, but Dunlap says he can't see a reason it wouldn't be granted.
Existing IDs will be fine for registering to vote, proving age and making bank transactions but not for boarding planes or entering some federal facilities.
