County’s marriage licenses going high tech

Adrienne Packer and Timothy Pratt

Thursday, Jan. 10, 2002 | 9:47 a.m.

Paul Van Loon, 48, and Lesley Owen, 36, were on vacation from Melbourne, Australia, when they decided enough was enough -- after 10 years together, it was time to get married.

On Wednesday evening they stood in front of window 4 at the Clark County Marriage License Bureau. The wait would be a bit longer.

Because of technical difficulties, they were told to move to another window.

"I'm not sure what happened, the system just froze on us," said Sharon Brown, an assistant supervisor for the bureau, which distributed 123,000 licenses last year.

These sorts of things happened all day, as the bureau's staff made the switch from four Lexmark Wheelwriter 1500 typewriters and a microfilm machine to computers and scanners, ushering the self-named "marriage capital of the world" into the computer age.

Clark County Marriage Bureau officials on Wednesday said "I do" to a new computer system that not only expedites the licensing process but provides cleaner, colorful and more professional marriage certificates.

What's more, that trip down the aisle isn't quite as long, thanks to shorter lines and faster data processing.

"This is long, long, long overdue," Clark County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre said of the new system. "I used to see the lines out the door, down the stairs and around the courthouse. This is something I really wanted to do."

The old typewritten documents are black and white and sometimes blotched. The new certificates are cleaner, have calligraphic writing and carry the county's seal in color.

Rather than having to fix mistakes with erasers or White Out, employees can punch the "delete" button.

"They're clean and perfect for framing," Parraguirre said.

Licenses will be logged and scanned into the computer, so when couples ask for copies employees will no longer have to thumb through files to find the original document. Wednesday's step is only the initial move in a series of improvements expected to be made to the licensing and certification process.

Parraguirre said that, by September, applications -- which are now filled out in the office -- will be available online. The applications can be e-mailed to the office, where clerks will ensure forms are properly completed.

When the couple arrives at the Clark County Courthouse, they can use an express window in the lobby to pick up their certificate.

The new system will take some getting used to, however.

"How do you abbreviate Illinois?" asked clerk Norma Chaty to no one in particular, consulting a list of abbreviations.

"I'm so used to typing the name of the state out," she added.

"And how come the scanner isn't working?' she asked, this time addressing Brown.

But the couples who left newly betrothed seemed content.

"It was already so convenient to get married here, and with these computers, it should be even more so," said Ronnie Campbell, 64, who had come from Broward County, Fla., to get married to Dolores Belivaeu, 59.

"That way, my fiancee doesn't have time to get away," he said with a laugh.