For all of the things that annoy me about Ohio, I was rather surprised at how relatively painless it was to get a new drivers license and plates for my car. This is generally the part of state government most of us loathe the most, and for good reason.
Washington was clever because they had clear documentation online about what you needed, and fed wait times for the licensing offices to the site as well. During my first week out there, I checked it early one morning from work and bolted out there for a 15 minute wait. The problem there is that the process is so inefficient. You bounce around to three people, and you then you leave with a temporary license because they mail the real one. License plates, registration and title are handled in completely different locations. Pain in the ass.
Ohio works electronically as much as possible now. It had been years since I walked into an office for plates, because you can handle most of it online, save for new cars our out-of-state transfers. In my county, they can do titles, licenses, plates and exams all in the same place. I had to do the written exam again (which is kinda stupid, as if Washington, and Ohio previously can't vouch for me), and it creeped me out that the computer-based test had my last license photo from 2006 or something.
None of the people were bastards, either. I actually give them a little credit, because I'm sure many people they deal with are miserable jerks to them.
Now I just look forward to them dropping the shitty plate design for the more simple, neutral version coming in December. They'll also ditch the pink drivers licenses (still can't believe that), and the new ones will match the plates in design. Although, with plates that start with "FKD," it's almost like a free vanity plate.
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