But how many people are actually using them? And what's stopping people who aren't opting in? Concerns about accessibility and privacy are explored in depth in the video below.
Although at least 4.5 million people have enrolled in these programs, overall, that number represents only about 7 out of every 100 people who would be eligible to sign up.
“When you can use it not just in person, but over the Internet as well, I think that will be a big driver,” said digital identity strategist David Kelts in an interview with Government Technology. “I would say by the end of next year, people will be talking about it. It’s going to be a common dinner table conversation.”
THE KEY DIFFERENCE IN STATE ID APPS
The digital ID landscape is fractured as many states have followed unique paths to digital identity. Some started with their own custom apps, such as Louisiana's LA Wallet, which was the first in the nation in 2018. But now, there's a push toward a new standard called a "mobile driver's license," or mDL. The key difference is that an mDL is the version secure enough to be recognized by federal agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), while many of the original state apps such as LA Wallet can only be used inside the state.
As governments have honed in on mDLs due to their ability to be used internationally and eventually become interoperable due to specific security standards, Government Technology requested the number of people actually enrolled in these specific programs. While most states with established programs provided data, newer programs in states such as Hawaii, West Virginia and Virginia did not, making a complete national count impossible at this time.
HOW MANY PEOPLE AREN'T OPTING IN?
To understand the mDL space further than just the amount of people who have enrolled, we wanted to get some insight on how many people could potentially enroll, but have not yet done so.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics maintains a list of licensed drivers in each state. We compared that data for each state to the number of people enrolled in mobile driver’s license programs.
The data reveals that some states have gotten a significantly greater portion of eligible people to enroll in their programs, while others have attracted a smaller number of users proportional to their total licensed population.
Arizona is the clear leader in the space, with 4.7 million licensed drivers and 1.1 million people enrolled in the program, suggesting about 23 of every 100 drivers has an mDL.
The state with the lowest adoption rate, Louisiana, where only about 1 out of every 100 drivers have an mDL, may be deceiving, and highlights the complexities of tracking true metrics in the digital identity space. Although only 52,000 people in the state have mDLs, compared to 3.2 million licensed drivers, the LA Wallet has significantly higher adoption, with more than 2 million people registered on the app. Louisiana just made mDLs available in the last year, and while the mDLs can only be used at TSA checkpoints at this time, the state-specific ID can be used for many things including online age verification.
BEYOND THE NUMBERS: WHAT'S NEXT FOR mDLS?
The slow and uneven adoption of mDLs presents a significant challenge for state leaders who have invested in the technology. Users won't adopt without places to use it, and businesses won't accept it without users.
But the biggest battle may still be ahead. Some advocates have raised underlying privacy concerns, such as in the American Civil Liberties Union's "No Phone Home" petition. Additionally, as the accessibility challenges in states such as Oklahoma have shown, programs that aren't designed for all residents risk not only failure, but legal challenges as well.
