State should complete the REAL ID process

Henry McMaster is the latest South Carolina governor to ask the federal government to grant an extension on complying with the REAL ID Act of 2005. He follows in the footsteps of predecessors Mark Sanford and Nikki Haley.

Once again, the deadline looms for completing the process. The latest extension in January gives the state until June 6 to meet the requirements to create a new, more secure state driver’s license.

If an extension is denied or the state can’t meet the deadline, the current S.C. license won’t be adequate for getting onto military bases. Additional ID, such as a passport, also would be needed to travel by plane starting in January 2018.

South Carolina is not alone in dragging its feet. Only half the states are fully compliant with REAL ID.

South Carolina is among 20 states with extensions. Five states are considered non-compliant, so their regular driver’s licenses already are not accepted at military bases or nuclear facilities.

McMaster has called the REAL ID law another Washington mandate that could threaten the state’s economy. Some critics fear it would lead to a national identification card.

Well, what if it does? With the high level of concern over the threat of terrorism, wouldn’t a secure, modern identification card that is consistent nationwide make us safer?

The REAL ID Act was passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Those attacks also spawned the creation of the Homeland Security Office and numerous surveillance and screening operations that have come close to infringing on our civil liberties.

Americans seem to have accepted that in exchange for greater security. A REAL ID card is just another example of that.

South Carolina has complied with the first part of the federal requirements. State-issued driver’s licenses have the required special security features that help prevent tampering, counterfeiting or duplication, and they use a machine-readable format.

But they still fall short of the second requirement – that they be linked to a digital database with information about drivers. The most sensible route is simply to comply with the law.

Consider the fiasco that would occur if residents can’t use their driver’s licenses to board airplanes or if defense contractors around the state can’t use them to enter a military base or a federal facility that normally requires a picture ID.

S.C. lawmakers went to great lengths to establish a law that required voters in the state to use an officially approved picture ID to cast a ballot. We wonder why they are so dead set against complying with federal laws that are designed to prevent terrorists from boarding planes or entering military bases.

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 4:45 PM with the headline "State should complete the REAL ID process."