Birth certificates are among the documents needed to get a REAL ID, but they can cost between $12 and $30 to receive for those who need a replacement. (Stock photo by John Carleton/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA — The potential need to track down birth certificates, marriage licenses, and other name-changing records has gotten a lot of attention lately due a congressional fight over what’s dubbed the SAVE America Act. Such proof of identity is already needed for a REAL ID.
In South Carolina, replacing the documents could take weeks and cost at least $12 each, an expense required by state law. Most are available through the state’s Vital Records office, an arm of the state health department.
Getting those records, for whatever reason, “is easy if you’re in Columbia, have time and have money,” said Lynn Teague, vice president of the state League of Women Voters chapter.
For anyone else, she added, it may not be so easy.
Here’s what South Carolinians need to know about the requirements and how to get the documents.
The proposal in Congress requiring would-be voters to prove they’re U.S. citizens is expected to disproportionately affect married women. That’s because people with names that don’t match their birth certificates could be asked for additional documents to back up the changes, and women traditionally take their husband’s last name, either alone or hyphenated, when they get married.
Documentation to prove name changes are already required to get a REAL ID.
Getting a regular driver’s license is still an option. However, since Feb. 1, people traveling by plane have needed a REAL ID, passport or military ID to avoid paying a $45 fee to get through airport security and to skip the hassle of completing extra paperwork.
So far, 3.2 million South Carolinians have a REAL ID. That’s nearly 70% of the 4.6 million people with a South Carolina driver’s license, beginner’s permit or state-issued ID, according to Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman Mike Fitts.
Getting one requires proof of identity — such as a birth certificate or passport — two proofs of address and, if a person has changed their name, a document trail linking their current name to their past one, according to the DMV.
That can include a marriage license, divorce decree or court order showing the name change. However, people whose name hasn’t changed in the last 15 years can bring three or more documents proving they’ve used the same name that long.
Other than making flying a little easier and cheaper, a REAL ID is needed to get on a military base or enter a secure federal building. It is not required to drive, access federal benefits, enter non-secure federal buildings, such as a post office, or vote. In South Carolina, a regular driver’s license can be shown at the polls.
If the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, more commonly known as the SAVE America Act, eventually becomes law, a REAL ID from South Carolina would not suffice as proof of citizenship for voting, even though much of the same information is needed.
The bill pushed by President Donald Trump would require would-be voters to show their birth certificate or passport when registering to vote. And, similar to existing South Carolina law, it would require voters to bring a photo ID to the polls. (In South Carolina, people can vote a provisional, or paper, ballot if they forget their ID. It’s counted if they show it later.)
For people without a passport and whose name no longer matches their birth certificate, the bill says would-be voters could provide “additional documentation as necessary to establish that the name on the documentation is a previous name of the applicant” or sign an affidavit swearing that’s their name. Each state would be responsible for setting up the process.
The bill would not require everyone to re-register. The document requirements would apply only to people updating their information or newly registering to vote in a new place.
Following its passage in the House earlier this year, it hit a roadblock because of a lack of votes in the U.S. Senate to stop an expected filibuster.
Supporters say the bill will ensure noncitizens won’t vote in federal elections, which is already against the law. Opponents argue it would disenfranchise voters who don’t have easy access to those documents.
It creates extra hurdles for some voters who have lost or misplaced them, Teague said.
“People who have moved often, who have faced disasters, floods, may not have all this,” she said. “It shouldn’t be harder for one person to vote than another.”
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At the health department’s office on Bull Street in Columbia, a fireproof vault houses more than 9 million birth and death certificates.
Those date back to 1962. Stored elsewhere are birth and death certificates dating back to 1915, when state law began requiring the department to maintain important records.
Birth certificates are available to any adult named on the birth certificate, their parents or their legal guardian or representative. Immediate family members can also request birth certificates of relatives who have died, according to the Vital Records office.
Similarly, marriage certificates and divorce reports are available for the people listed, their adult children, current or former spouses of those married and any of their legal representatives. The office also provides death certificates to family members and their legal representatives, which could be used in place of a divorce decree for widows and widowers.
Copies of all records are available online, through phone requests or by mail. Birth and death certificates are also available in-person and through drop-offs, which applicants leave at a local office. They can later pick up their copy or have it mailed to them.
The state-level fees are set under state law, at a rate of $12 for normal requests and $17 for expedited ones. The records office is required to use that revenue to cover operating costs.
An additional cost pays for the optional third-party services, which don’t search for requests but collect them and send them back to the health department. People searching for records have two options for online ordering: GoCertificates and VitalChek. Both are pretty much the same price, with just a nickel’s difference.
VitalChek can also order a birth certificate without other proof of identification through a background check, allowing people who don’t have a driver’s license or other ID to replace their documents.
Other sites purport to retrieve important records, often for a much higher price. But ordering through any sites other than the two the state offers does not guarantee a person will actually receive the documents they need, according to the state health department.
During the 2025 fiscal year, the state health agency collected more than $8.7 million from people searching for records, but that doesn’t bring in a profit for the state, according to a department spokesman.
Paying for records is typical to cover the manpower and time needed to track down old records, Teague said.
If documents become necessary to vote, however, charging for them will become a problem, she said.
“We regard that as a poll tax,” Teague said. “You’ve got to pay money to be able to vote, and it’s not supposed to be like that.”
People shouldn’t wait until right before their vacation to start getting their documents together for a REAL ID. Documents typically take between two and four weeks to arrive via mail or five to seven business days for online services and phone requests, according to the health department.
Since the DMV no longer prints licenses at its branch locations, receiving the actual license can take up to another two weeks.
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Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
