A nationwide outage is impacting U.S. passport verification, according to Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.

U.S. passport verification at Illinois facilities was unavailable briefly on Wednesday due to a nationwide outage, state officials announced.

The U.S. Passport Verification Service allows DMVs to verify data against the Department of Homeland Security's system.

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said state DMV facilities were affected by a nationwide outage impacting U.S. passport verification Wednesday.

(WLS) -- A nationwide outage affecting U.S. passport verification ... Illinois residents can use their passport as a form of identification when seeking a driver's license or state ID.