The state of Ohio has extended expiration dates of driver's licenses, identification cards and vehicle registration due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the clock continues to run on the fees that will be eventually be due, according to the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

"If a customer's expiration date on their driver's license, identification card or vehicle registration is March 9, 2020, to April 1, 2021, the expiration date has been automatically extended and will remain valid until July 1, 2021," DPS spokeswoman Lindsey Bohrer told the Mount Vernon News in an email statement.

The extension was included in state legislation, House Bill 404, Bohrer said.

However, during the extended period, citizens still incur fees, the spokeswoman said.

"Customers will have to pay for the time period that their driver’s license/ID/vehicle registration was active," Bohrer said. "HB 404 delays the payment of the fees otherwise due between March 9,  2020 and April 1, 2021. The requirement to pay the fee by July 1, 2021 was not waived by the General  Assembly."

For example, a driver whose license expired at the end of December but who waited until July 1, 2021 to renew, would not receive six months of "free time" for that extension period, Bohrer said.

"The license expiration date should be retroactive so when the license is issued, it will use the expiration date as if you got it on your birth date when it originally expired," the spokeswoman said

Law enforcement officials in Ohio are being "encouraged" not to issue tickets for expired licenses during the grace period, said Bohrer. 

The state points out that many renewal services are available online.