System glitch blamed for backup at Shelby County clerk’s office

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Monday morning, the line at the Shelby County Clerk’s office was wrapped around the building due to a system outage, leaving drivers frustrated.

Around 7 a.m., Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert sent out a tweet that read:
The State of Tennessee County Clerk transaction teams are experiencing glitches this morning with motor vehicle and business tax services… Statewide, our systems are down.

Shortly after 8 a.m., Halbert sent an update letting people know the system was back online.

Tyler Smith, a citizen standing in line, says when workers at the clerk’s office came and made the announcement, many people left. “I moved up maybe 20 people worth.”

Smith says while things moved smoothly after that, it wasn’t his first time trying to get his car registered. “I have driven by at least four times in the past week and seen people wrapped around the building.”

Customers at the county clerk’s office have complained of long lines for things like license plates for several months. Back in October, the clerk blamed another backup on a systemwide outage.

Last week on Live at Nine, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris addressed some of the issues with long lines and delays at the Clerks office. He says Halbert should be held accountable.

“We had the clerk come into the commission to deliver periodic reports, but that has stopped. I am hoping the Shelby County Commission and the chairman will be able to restart and reengage with the clerk because this is a problem that is not going away until we put some pressure on the clerk to take some reforms,” said Harris.

Smith says he knows one way to fix the problems at the Clerks office. “I’ll be very very keenly remembering Wanda’s name when it comes time to check boxes.”