In case you thought that I was just kidding about New Mexico...

Diana M Alba-Soular, at Las Cruces Sun-News

Gavin Clarkson, a recent candidate for New Mexico secretary of state, experienced a one-of-our-50-states-is-missing moment earlier this month when applying for a marriage license in the nation's capital.

Clarkson, who lives in Las Cruces, and his then-fiancée visited the District of Columbia Courts Marriage Bureau on Nov. 20 to apply for a marriage license.

But, once there, the couple encountered a small problem, Clarkson said. The clerk wouldn't accept Clarkson's driver's license – from New Mexico – as proof of his identity. Rather, the clerk, who mistakenly believed Clarkson was a foreign citizen, said he would have to provide an international passport to get the marriage license.

After Clarkson objected, the clerk went to check with a supervisor, who confirmed Clarkson would need a passport.

"You know you are from flyover country when you are applying for a marriage license, give them your New Mexico driver's license, and they come back and say: 'My supervisor says we cannot accept international driver's licenses. Do you have a New Mexico passport?'" Clarkson posted on Facebook recently.

Speaking with the Sun-News about the incident, Clarkson said the clerk went back to check a second time about whether she could accept a New Mexico driver's license as proof of identify. After that, the staff finally concluded New Mexico was in fact a U.S. state and accepted his driver's license along with the application.

Clarkson, who has called New Mexico home since 2012, said he's heard about the state's residents experiencing such incidents when traveling, but "it was the first time it happened to me."

"She thought New Mexico was a foreign country," he said of the clerk. "All the couples behind us waiting in line were laughing."