Larry Barmore

Chautauqua County Clerk Larry Barmore is one of 27 county clerks calling on the state to delay the Green Light Law until next October.

In a news release issued Friday afternoon, Barmore said the state’s training for clerks offices was inadequate to ensure the integrity of the identification process for driver’s license applications. Barmore said there were two “hastily delivered” webinars and a conference call.

Specifically, the clerks say the state Motor Vehicles Department hasn’t put in place safeguards to prevent someone who has a Social Security number from signing the affidavit form (NSS-1) claiming they’ve never been issued a Social Security number, enabling people to conceal their true identities. The clerks said state DMV representatives admitted during a conference call with county clerks on Monday that they have no way to check or verify if a person using the affidavit form (NSS-1) in fact was never issued a Social Security number.

Clerks also say the state DMV has also failed to apply standards to the translation certification process, allowing anyone regardless of their age or language proficiency to certify a document’s correct translation without any proof of such.

The absence of standards to the translation certification process allows for anyone regardless of their relationship to the applicant to certify the translation of documents for anyone, including minors. Furthermore, county Motor Vehicles officials have no way of ensuring the correct translation of written documents and have been directed by state officials to simply “look for the word ‘certify’ on the document.”

“Because of these lax regulations, implementation of the state law at this time would create unacceptable security risks as the loopholes allow for nefarious people to obtain a New York state Standard Driver Licenses and use it to commit bank fraud, identity theft, credit card fraud, human trafficking, and other criminal activities,” Barmore said in the news release.

The clerks picked Oct. 1, 2020, as the best effective date for the Green Light Law because that is when the federal REAL ID act goes into effect. Implementing the Green Light law before the REAL ID program begins could make it easier for people to get a state driver’s license and use it to enter secure federal buildings.

According to the Associated Press, a federal district judge ruled against Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola, saying he lacked the legal capacity to bring a lawsuit the Green Light Law. Merola, a Republican, had argued that the state law conflicts with federal immigration law. Judge Gary Sharpe wrote in his decision that he was not ruling on the legality of the law, but on whether Merola could bring the suit.

Merola, one of several clerks who sued, said that as of Tuesday his office lacked the training and equipment to properly comply with the law. Barring changes, the Republican clerk said applicants might be directed across the Hudson River to the state-run Department of Motor Vehicles offices in Albany. In Buffalo, Erie County Clerk Michael Kearns, who also challenged the law in court, wouldn’t definitively say whether or not immigrants will be able to get their applications processed Monday. Other clerks said they were scrambling to comply by next week.

New York Immigration Coalition Executive Director Steve Choi said the group expects every county clerk to uphold the law and that they’re ready to take clerks to court. The Cuomo administration also has also sent a warning out to clerks this week.

“Local officials, including the county clerks who run DMV offices, cannot choose which laws they like and which they will disregard,” said Department of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Lisa Koumjian in a statement. “If a clerk is unwilling to follow state law, he or she should resign their office.”

Lawmakers in June made New York the 13th state to authorize licenses for drivers without legal immigration status. On Monday, license applicants without a valid Social Security number will be able to submit multiple alternative forms of ID that include valid passports and driver’s licenses issued in other countries. Applicants must still get a permit and pass a road test to qualify for a “standard driver’s license,” which cannot be used for federal purposes like an enhanced driver’s license or Real ID.

Past efforts in New York to provide the licenses have failed in the past amid claims the law would open the door to voter fraud, bank fraud and identity theft. Proponents dismiss those claims and say the law will bring in added revenue from car registrations, sales taxes and new insurance policies. The Legislature passed the law this year after Democrats ended two-party rule in Albany by taking over the state Senate. Now some front-line critics are the upstate county clerks that act as agents for the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV said it has provided county clerks with training and devices that can authenticate documents. But some clerks say that the training came only recently and that they’re ill-prepared to authenticate international documents.

“I’m just really stressed,” Orange County Clerk Annie Rabbitt said this week. “Across the board and the state, there’s going to be longer lines, more frustration and people not understanding.”

On her website, the Republican clerk warned DMV customers to expect delays and to direct concerns about the law to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers. Merola said the law will force him to choose between following federal immigration law or the new state law that conflicts with it.

“At a time when we’re making people jump through hoops that live in this country to get … a Real ID or an enhanced driver’s license, and then we’re going to willy-nilly give a license to an ID to someone that cannot prove that they’re here legally,” he said.

Merola is seeking to block the law in federal court. A similar lawsuit filed by Kearns in Buffalo was dismissed last month by a federal judge who said he lacked legal standing. Kearns, a Democrat who ran on the Republican line, has appealed.

Kearns said he would personally make final decisions over whether to approve or deny licenses under the new law.

“I have to be 100% certain that that document is a valid document,” he said.