My youngest child will most likely be getting her driver’s license in July 2020. I think I’m going to head over to the Secretary of State office right now and get in line.
Livingston County, as you know, only has one Secretary of State office, and that ain’t cutting it anymore. We need another branch, and we need it now.
This point was driven home to me recently when I waited in line for more than an hour at the Livingston County SOS branch, located on Grand River Avenue in Genoa Township, midway between Brighton and Howell. I was there for a relatively easy transaction that needed to be done in person, but I still had to wait more than an hour.
I was in line 20 minutes before the branch opened in the morning, and once they opened the doors, I still had to wait another 50 minutes or so to make it to the front of the line.
And the stupid thing is, I’m actually one of the lucky ones. I know there are plenty of you people out there who have had to wait two hours or more at the Livingston County Secretary of State office.
That’s ridiculous, and it needs to change. Livingston County needs another Secretary of State office.
Until 2011, we actually DID have two SOS branches in the county (one in Howell and one in Brighton), but they decided to close them down so that they could open a Secretary of State PLUS branch in Genoa Township.
They told us this would be more efficient. They told us this would be better. They told us the lines would be shorter.
They lied.
So the state needs to make it a priority to reopen a branch office in the Brighton area. We can keep the big one we have in Genoa Township, but we need another one in Brighton. They made a mistake in 2011, and they need to fix it.
I know, I know – they’ve made great strides in recent years to move more of the Secretary of State operations online. That’s great, and I try to do as much SOS business as I can online. But there are still some things that need to be done in person, and it’s absolutely ridiculous that you need to take a half-day or more out of your schedule when that happens.
Livingston County has nearly 200,000 residents now, and when you factor in all the folks from Oakland, Washtenaw and Genesee counties who probably come here, it’s ridiculous that we only have one Secretary of State branch.
I think the people who work in our SOS office are terrific – the long lines aren’t their fault – but we need another branch and we need it now.
If you agree, take a second and drop a note to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Just click HERE to send her a note. Tell her that Livingston County is too big for just one branch office.
In the meantime, I’m taking a number.
