New ID rules, understaffing prolong lines at state office

By June Watanabe

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Feb 27, 2013

~~<p>Question: I went to the Department of Health’s vital records office on Punchbowl Street on Feb. 20 to get copies of my birth and marriage certificates because I was not able to request them online. I could not believe there was only one person at a window to assist the people in the line. There was a pickup window that was not busy during the entire two hours I was there, so why couldn’t they have had someone help out? There were elderly people as well as parents with children waiting in that same line for two hours. The room was extremely small, and it was extremely frustrating for all of us. I know it’s not their fault, but I do think the people of Hawaii deserve better.</p>
<p>Answer: The long waits are the result of more people requesting copies of vital records because of the new requirements for getting driver’s licenses and state IDs, and the Health Department facing a staff shortage.</p>
~~

Question: I went to the Department of Health’s vital records office on Punchbowl Street on Feb. 20 to get copies of my birth and marriage certificates because I was not able to request them online. I could not believe there was only one person at a window to assist the people in the line. There was a pickup window that was not busy during the entire two hours I was there, so why couldn’t they have had someone help out? There were elderly people as well as parents with children waiting in that same line for two hours. The room was extremely small, and it was extremely frustrating for all of us. I know it’s not their fault, but I do think the people of Hawaii deserve better.

Answer: The long waits are the result of more people requesting copies of vital records because of the new requirements for getting driver’s licenses and state IDs, and the Health Department facing a staff shortage. Login for more...