FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 17, 2015
Contact: Kristen Schulze Muszynski
207-441-7638

Secretary Dunlap recognizes
1-millionth Rapid Renewal customer

SCARBOROUGH ? Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap celebrated the success of the state?s online vehicle registration renewal service with a special presentation Friday.

Secretary Dunlap met with Andrea Gleason, of South Portland, at the Scarborough branch of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to recognize her as the one-millionth customer of the BMV?s Rapid Renewal service. Gleason received a variety of gift items from the Department of the Secretary of State and from InforME, the State of Maine?s partner in online services.

Through Rapid Renewal, citizens are able to quickly and easily renew their vehicle registrations and pay their municipal excise taxes online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. More than 1,147,000 transactions have been processed through Rapid Renewal since it first became available in December 2000, and it is now offered in 203 Maine towns.

?I have two jobs and kids, so to be able to go online instead of waiting in line at city hall is awesome,? said Gleason, who works as the director of recruiting services for Pro Search, Inc. and also owns Scarborough Yoga on Route 1.  ?Anything you can put online is well worth it.?

Secretary Dunlap called Rapid Renewal ?a real customer convenience? that allows people to conduct their registration transaction ?without taking time off work or away from your family, from the comfort of your own home.

?You shouldn?t have to use vacation time to transact the business you?re already paying to transact with your tax dollars and registration fees,? he said.

Rapid Renewal is just one of more than 450 online government services now available through Maine.gov. In addition to Rapid Renewal, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles also offers duplicate registrations, duplicate titles, the organ donor registry, driver record orders and vanity license plate orders online.

?Rapid Renewal is one of our oldest and most successful services,? said Dan Andrews, general manager of InforME, ?and we?re continually making efforts to improve it and make it more efficient for users.?

InforME is also engaged in outreach to the remaining Maine towns that do not yet offer Rapid Renewal, said Andrews, and provides continuous support for the municipalities that have signed on. Rapid Renewal may be accessed through www.sosonline.org, the Secretary of State's site for online services.

Pictured below, left to right: Dan Andrews, general manager of InforME; Andrea Gleason of South Portland, one-millionth Rapid Renewal customer; Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap; and Scarborough BMV Branch Manager Scott Thompson, at the Scarborough Bureau of Motor Vehicles on Friday, July 17, 2015.