TOLEDO, Ohio — It's something many probably are not looking forward to doing on their birthday – renewing their tags or ID.
Toledo resident Cameron Menchaca is about to be a year older, so on Thursday, he went to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles location in downtown Toledo.
"Had put it in my Apple maps and it took me right here," Menchaca said.
But little did he know, that was a lie.
"I was expecting to get all my tags and ID and couldn't even get to it," Menchaca said.
That is because the BMV is permanently closed.
It's been that way since June 29, according to the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
"The convenience that people had by being able to use the downtown office, that's gone away," Ohio state Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D, Toledo) said.
In Ohio, BMVs are run by deputy registrars and are privately owned.
The registrar of the now-former BMV on 1600 Madison Avenue retired and state officials said it closed due to a 39% reduction in revenue since 2018, as well as concerns over a history of violence.
That's leaving people not being able to renew or get their IDs downtown, and with an ID required to vote next month, Hicks-Hudson said people are going to feel the effects.
"The work that's been done at the state level by the legislator and by this government has been a major assault on these people's voting," Hicks-Hudson said.
Hicks-Hudson criticized Secretary of State Frank LaRose on this issue.
We reached out to LaRose's office for comment who provided the following statement:
These partisan attacks should be dismissed on their face. Unlike in Michigan, the Ohio Secretary of State's office does not control the BMV. Secretary LaRose is committed to making every election both secure and accessible for all Ohioans. Helping to boost voter confidence in Ohio's gold standard elections system instead of parroting false claims would be a more productive use of time.
But problems are not just political, they are transactional as well.
Down the hall from the BMV's former office is a title bureau. A bureau that is struggling.
"We're in the process of also having to shut down and move to another location where another deputy registrar is," Lucas County Clerk of Courts Bernie Quilter said.
Quilter said because the BMV next door closed, his title bureau has taken a hit.
For example, in August, the downtown location saw significantly less traffic than three other surrounding bureaus.
The breakdown of the numbers is provided below:
Quilter, who is in charge of each county bureau, said the downtown location is moving within 9-12 months.
This means that the once hot spot for titles and tags will soon be empty.
"It shouldn't be that way," Quilter said. "One building, one line. That's what I'd be pushing for, that's what I have been pushing for."
There are currently four other locations across Lucas County that offer BMV services:
- 4460 Heatherdowns Blvd, Toledo, OH 43614
- 3606 West Sylvania Ave. Toledo, OH 43623
- 3018 Navarre Ave. Oregon, OH 43616
- 4900 North McCord Rd. Sylvania, 43560
If you are in need of transportation services to any BMV location, you are encouraged to visit the Lucas County transportation services page.
For more information on how to register to vote, visit the Secretary of State's website. The voter registration deadline is Monday, Oct. 7.