Illinoisans struggle to find available DMV appointments through new 'Skip the Line' program

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois is about two and a half months into Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias' new "Skip the Line" program.

The idea is to make an appointment in advance and eliminate the unpredictability of wait times at Illinois DMVs. But, the problem has now shifted to finding an available appointment.

Lynn Cannon spent part of her work day scrolling through the Illinois Secretary of State Office's website, trying to schedule an appointment for her 16-year-old son.

"I've been looking for over a month, because he's now eligible to get his first driver's license and he's pretty upset that he can't get it yet," Cannon said.

Each day, she says she logs on at 6:30 a.m., 30 minutes before the secretary of state's website says new appointments are made available.

"In some cases, I could get an appointment in Lombard, or maybe Waukegan, but you have to do this day by day," Cannon said.

ABC7's Rob Hughes logged on at 7 a.m., which he found is the best opportunity for most people to secure an appointment. You can see the locations on your screen where you can go into driver services. The blue notifies you that there are appointments available.

But, click on a location, and many times, you'll find that the appointments are only available same-day and sometimes, less than an hour in advance.

Same-day appointments open at 7 a.m. every weekday, and two future appointment days open up at different times throughout the day, according to the secretary of state's office. Toward the end of the day, the supply is limited, but becomes fully available at 7 a.m. the following day and onwards.

ABC7 reached out to the secretary of state's office, which claims it has increased the number of available appointments and expanded the schedule to 18 days out.

A spokesman for the secretary of state said, in part, "Since launching the program on Sept. 1, more than 500,000 appointments have been scheduled. Customers with appointments are also experiencing little to no wait times, which is a vast improvement compared to the long lines and hour-plus wait times that Illinoisans had been used to."

The spokesman also said the office has increased the number of road test appointments at Chicagoland DMVs by over 40%, or nearly 1,300 per day over the past few weeks, adding that they are continually looking at the system to better improve services.

Sarah Sharpe tried one of a handful of walk-in locations across the Chicago area. She was there right as it opened at 8 a.m., but even that wasn't enough.

"I was thinking about taking a day off work, to take PTO to get here," Sharpe said. "Over an hour at least. So, that's why I decided I'm going to come back a different day."

Others planned better and came away with what they were looking for.

"Got my license!" said Matthew Deloach. "Probably about 15 minutes, honestly. Yeah, 15 minutes. I broke a record. I usually take hours in there."

A spokesman also said the secretary of state's office opened up two walk-in centers for seniors, located in Bridgeview and Evanston, and is looking to open two more in the coming weeks.

Since opening the senior centers on Sept. 25, almost 10,000 seniors have visited and processed transaction, the spokesman said. The centers are located at the Evanston Civic Center at 2100 N. Ridge Road and Bridgeview's Seat Geek Stadium at 7000 S. Harlem Ave. Both facilities are open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. The senior centers do not require appointments.