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Noorvik’s mayor denied a REAL ID. He’s concerned others won’t qualify for same reasons

Exterior of an Alaska Native village clinic building in Noorvik, Alaska, in the winter with three snowmachines parked outside. Photo taken by Master Sergeant Jack Braden of the U.S. Air Force.

October 1 carries a deadline that will affect all Alaskans who travel by plane. That’s the day that passengers will need a federally-recognized REAL I.D.-compliant form of identification in order to travel on a commercial airline. 

Though about nine months away, the deadline causing trouble for a lot of rural Alaska communities, many of which don’t have D.M.V. offices and have to travel to other cities. Another concern is the documentation required to get a REAL I.D.

Like many Alaskans in small communities, Noorvik Mayor Verne Cleveland had to travel from the community of under 700 people to a city with a D.M.V. He opted for Anchorage.

I tried getting my ID and I didn’t have no street address, no home number, no house number, nothing,” Cleveland said. “So I didn’t get my new card. And that’s a problem.”

There are several requirements needed to get issued a REAL I.D. One of them is two documents showing proof of residence, with a physical address on them.

A couple of buildings in Noorvik have addresses, but Cleveland says none of the homes do. Locals rely on PO Boxes for mail. Cleveland says there had been efforts in the past from the local village government to establish home addresses in Noorvik, but they went nowhere.

Cleveland says if that requirement remains strict, he’s worried that no one in the village will qualify.

“And I told [the D.M.V.] that we don’t have anything. All we have is P.O. box numbers,” Cleveland said. “And that’s gonna be a big problem. And it’s not just gonna be in our areas. It’s gonna be in other areas.”

Among the forms of I.D. that are REAL-I.D. compliant are passports and federally-issued Tribal I.D. cards with photos. While Cleveland says that many community members have those alternatives, he says the state should still be helping get those I.D.s to communities like his.

“I lucked out and had my passport, so that was no big deal,” Cleveland said. “But if this comes to where we’re gonna be travelling for ball games and we don’t have the I.D., then we’re stuck at home.”

Interview requests made to state D.M.V. officials and the state Department of Administration went unanswered as of this report, though last month, Administration Commissioner Kelly Tshibaka requested Alaskans donate to the state D.M.V. in order to help with getting rural residents their I.D.s.

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