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February 27, 2006

Randy Nehrt
Dave Druker

Secretary White Announces New Internet Program For Circuit Breaker Refunds

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced that his office has added a new online service to help senior citizens and people with disabilities enrolled in the Circuit Breaker program receive vehicle registration refunds more efficiently.

"By offering this service on our website, we can help those people who especially need it get their refunds in a quick and simple fashion," White said. "This is just one more way we are using technology to serve the public's needs better."

Any senior citizen or person with a disability who is accepted into the Circuit Breaker program, but has previously purchased license plates or renewed their license plate sticker and paid the full price is eligible for a $54 refund. Refunds must be requested within two years of the time the applicant actually paid full price for a license plate or vehicle sticker.

The new online service allows the qualified applicant to simply type in two numbers from the Secretary of State's Circuit Breaker notification letter. To receive the refund, the applicant goes to the main page of the Secretary of State's website, www.cyberdriveillinois.com, and clicks on the Circuit Breaker button. From there, all the applicant has to do is enter the Circuit Breaker Control Number and License Plate Number from the notification letter and the refund will be processed.

The refund unit has processed 1,371 vouchers through the new online application, refunding approximately $74,000 to members of the program. The new program greatly speeds up the processing of refunds by eliminating the mailing and manual processing of applications.

Members of the program may also call the Secretary of State's office at 1-800-252-8980 for assistance with Circuit Breaker refunds. Secretary of State operators have begun using the website application to process applications. If the customer has the letter of notification from the Secretary of State's office on hand, operators can process the refund over the phone, rather than having to mail an application to the customer.

Eligible senior citizens and persons with disabilities may enroll in the Circuit Breaker program through the Illinois Department on Aging.