LOS ANGELES — The California Department of Motor Vehicles is under renewed scrutiny after a federal government warning that its Real ID protocols do not comply with security standards, the latest in a series of missteps by a state agency struggling to maintain public trust.

The Department of Homeland Security notified officials at the California D.M.V. in November that its process for verifying residency before issuing identification cards — including driver’s licenses — did not meet federal requirements. California has already issued cards to 2.3 million individuals so far. The D.M.V., which did not immediately disclose that notification to the public, is now seeking to ease confusion among those affected.

The agency has said that Californians who received an ID this year do not have to have their cards reissued. But new applicants will need to show two forms of residency verification — instead of one — beginning this spring in order to receive a Real ID card.

“As far as we know, anyone holding a Real ID currently, as long as it’s valid, the feds will accept it and honor it,” said Jaime Garza, a D.M.V. spokesman. “We basically have told Californians: ‘If you’ve got the card, don’t worry about it.’”

The confusion over the state’s Real ID application process has come at a critical moment for the agency, which has been embroiled in a series of controversies this year. The D.M.V. announced earlier this month that as many as 589 people were unable to vote in the November midterm election because the agency failed to file hundreds of voter registration forms and change-of-address requests as part of its Motor Voter program. In September, the department announced it had mishandled 23,000 voter registrations. In October, it announced it had mistakenly registered 1,500 individuals to vote.

Hourslong lines have become a norm outside D.M.V. offices across the state, even for those who have booked an appointment, often leading to lost wages and short tempers. Appointments themselves must often be scheduled weeks or even months in advance.

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla issued a sharp rebuke of the D.M.V. director, Jean Shiomoto, this month over the voter registration mistakes. “The director of D.M.V. has lost my confidence and trust,” he wrote in a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown and governor-elect Gavin Newsom. “I urge you to promptly appoint new leadership to D.M.V.”

Ms. Shiomoto recently announced that she intends to retire at the end of the year. Mr. Brown has appointed Bill Davidson, deputy director of the D.M.V., as her acting replacement as of Dec. 31.

Jim Patterson, a Republican state assemblyman from Fresno, said the agency needed a radical overhaul to regain the trust of the public. He expressed concern that the agency will not be able to handle the coming rush of California residents seeking Real IDs ahead of the October 2020 deadline.

“The D.M.V. is failing in its fundamental mission in respect to driver’s licenses and registrations,” said Mr. Patterson, who has become one of the agency’s most vocal critics. “Between now and 2020, you’re going to get hundreds of thousands of people rushing through the D.M.V. to get their ID by the deadline, going through a system that is totally broken. The infrastructure of the D.M.V. is simply unable to cope.”

Mr. Patterson urged Mr. Newsom and the State Legislature to prioritize fixing the D.M.V. in the upcoming year. He also said he intended to push for an audit of the agency when the Legislature reconvenes in January, adding that he would like to see Elaine Howell, the state auditor, take an approach similar to her audit of the state’s High Speed Rail Authority.

“We won’t get to the solutions if we’re too scared to find the problems,” Mr. Patterson said. “I don’t think we get to the reforms we need unless the next governor and the Legislature put their heads together.”

Issuers of so-called Real ID cards must follow verification regulations outlined by the Real ID Act of 2005, which was passed in accordance with recommendations by the 9/11 Commission. By October 2020, everyone in the country will need a Real ID to board commercial aircraft without a passport. California began issuing Real IDs in January 2018.

The state D.M.V. modeled its Real ID residency verification system after one used in Wisconsin, which required individuals to provide one form of proof in person at the D.M.V., such as a utility bill or a lease. An identification card would then be mailed to the primary address listed by the individual seeking the ID; receipt of the card was considered sufficient secondary proof of residency.

But in November, the D.M.V. was told in a letter from the Department of Homeland Security that its system was not compliant with federal requirements. Beginning in April, individuals will have to provide two forms of proof of identity in person.

D.M.V. officials said they were previously assured by D.H.S. that such a system was in line with federal guidelines.

“We have been following the guidelines from Homeland Security from the beginning in terms of how we handled this,” said Jaime Garza, a D.M.V. spokesman.

Mr. Patterson tried to take a positive stance, saying he believed that “from monumental failure could come a real monumental improvement.” He said he would like to see state leadership draw from the experience of top managers in Silicon Valley, particularly business executives who have run large bureaucracies.

“If Amazon can develop the technology to deliver a Christmas present in a single day, I think there’s a way to get improvements at the D.M.V.”

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