Blog Post: The DMV Champions Quietly Modernizing American Democracy

For years, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has symbolized government at its most frustrating moment — long lines, bureaucratic hurdles, and a transaction that feels like it was designed to be difficult. But for many, the DMV is also the most frequent point of contact with their state government: the place where they prove who they are, establish eligibility for services, and, increasingly, connect to the democratic process itself.

Behind some of the most meaningful improvements to that experience are directors and administrators who identify a friction point, build a solution, and get it working without fanfare. Three of them, in Colorado, Georgia, and New Mexico, are doing exactly that.

Colorado: Shari Creason

For years, Colorado’s automatic voter registration system had a quiet inefficiency built into it. When a 15-year-old walked into the DMV to apply for a learner’s permit, they almost always brought the identity documents needed to establish citizenship and voter eligibility. Colorado’s pre-registration program, however, didn’t kick in until age 16. By the time a teenager returned for their full license a year later, they often didn’t bring the same required identification documents to pre-register. As a result, fewer people ended up in the secure verification process.

In 2024, Colorado passed a law expanding pre-registration to age 15 — and by doing so extending citizenship verification — so that the moment a teenager walks in with their documents in hand is also the moment they can be set up for automatic voter registration. Within six months of that bill becoming law, Shari Creason at the Colorado DMV had effectively implemented the change — establishing the systems, processes, and workflows needed to get it up and running.

The result was a win-win: Pre-registration numbers in Colorado jumped more than 260 percent in the program’s first year. Thousands of young Coloradans are now automatically registered the moment they’re eligible, and in a vote-by-mail state like Colorado, that means a ballot automatically shows up in their mailbox. The change also reduces the administrative gray zone where the DMV lacks definitive proof of citizenship and has to ask applicants to attest, a process that creates both bureaucratic burden and unnecessary risk.

The policy is replicable, but it requires someone willing to make the implementation happen. Shari was that person.

Georgia: Angelique McClendon

A mobile ID is only as useful as the places that will accept it, and without broad adoption, the technology is a novelty. Nowhere is that adoption gap more consequential than with law enforcement: If a trooper won’t accept a mobile ID during a traffic stop, the technology fails at a critical moment.

Georgia recognized that gap and decided to close it. Under the leadership of Angelique McClendon, director of the Georgia Department of Driver Services, the state built an ecosystem around mobile ID. Georgia worked strategically to bring liquor stores, entertainment venues, and sports arenas on board early, establishing the habit of acceptance before a broader rollout.

Then, in 2025, the state went further than any other in the country: the legislature passed HB 296, requiring law enforcement at every level to accept mobile IDs. Sponsored by seven Republican state house members, the bill passed the House 154-17 and the Senate 51-3. That overwhelming support reflected a growing bipartisan consensus that mobile ID is commonsense infrastructure.

To support the use of mobile ID by law enforcement, Georgia is investing in technology to address verification and workflow concerns, including law enforcement in the implementation process, and building a model that other states are now watching closely.

Angelique has been the steady force behind that strategy, demonstrating thoughtful implementation and steering Georgia’s program from early adopter to national leader.

New Mexico: Adam Diamond

As Special Projects Manager for New Mexico’s Motor Vehicle Division, Adam Diamond has been a central partner in the state’s automatic voter registration implementation, working through the operational realities of how Secure Automatic Voter Registration (SAVR) functions at the front lines of a DMV and doing the unglamorous problem-solving work that makes a policy actually run. He has also driven New Mexico’s mobile ID program forward, and helped expand the state’s re-entry ID initiative.

That last one matters in ways that are easy to understate. A person who leaves prison without a valid ID faces compounding barriers at nearly every turn: unable to apply for a job, secure housing, or access other services critical to successful reintegration into their communities. A DMV that treats that as its problem to solve changes real outcomes for real people. Adam has made that a priority.

Across automatic voter registration, mobile ID, and re-entry services, Adam has been a willing, creative, and substantive partner — the kind of official who shows up to the problem-solving table and stays.

Why It Matters

DMV reform doesn’t generate the same attention as a major spending bill or a high-profile election law. But for the 15-year-old in Colorado who will be automatically registered to vote without ever filling out a form, the Georgian who can show a trooper their ID from their phone, or the New Mexican leaving incarceration with the documentation they need to begin again — it is the difference between a government that works and one that doesn’t.

Shari, Angelique, and Adam are each operating in a space where the incentives don’t always reward ambition. The work is technical, the stakeholders are demanding, and the victories rarely come with obvious credit attached.

As Responsive Gov continues to spotlight officials putting “Government That Delivers” into practice across the country, these three offer a clear model: find the friction point, build the solution, and measure success by what changes for the people.