New features make ID more difficult to duplicate

Ohio issued a new design for driver’s licenses in May. The new identification cards are pink and feature multiple holograms.

Credit: DKS Editors

Andrew Konya, junior physics major, entered the Kent Bureau of Motor Vehicles on June 8 to renew his driver’s license for his 21st birthday. He walked out of the BMV with a pink license.

“I thought it looked a little fake,” Konya said.

Ohio has issued a new design for driver’s licenses statewide to comply with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

Lindsay Komlanc, media relations director for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, said the AAMVA is a group which nationally recommends different standards which most state DMVs and BMVs try to follow.

The BMV issued the new format in April for state driver’s license and identification cards on a pilot basis in select agencies in Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo. Statewide implementation began in May.

The new design is pink, which Komlanc said is one of the new security features of the driver’s license.

“Our fact sheet says red because that was easiest for most people to identify, but that actual pink shade is correct,” Komlanc said.

Each line of text is also numbered to assist law enforcement. The large headshot picture has been moved to the left and the ghost image is on the right.

The front of the driver’s license also contains numerous holograms, such as the Ohio state bird, the cardinal, two outlines of the state and multiple arrows. The old design contained the Great Seal of the State of Ohio and a “don’t drink and drive” hologram.

Lauren Ross, who works at 101 Bottles of Beer On the Wall, said she thought the new design had too many details to check, but assumed it was designed that way so it would be harder to duplicate.

101 Bottles of Beer received a printout about the new license, but Ross said she heard no other places knew of the change and were turning people away from the bars.

“A couple guys from Ray’s (Place) came in here and were talking to me about it, how they turned people away because they had no idea,” Ross said.

However, Ray’s Place said they received the memo about the new design as soon as it was released.

Konya does not drink, so he wasn’t worried about the idea of the license looking like a bad fake ID. However, he did think it looked “goofy.”

“I have only been to one place that ID’d since I got it, but the first guy totally thought it was a fake,” Konya said. “Then it had to go to the manager who informed him that these are the new licenses.”

All three BMVs in Portage County have been using the new design for the past few weeks. The Kent BMV has been using the new design since the second week of June.

Temporary instruction permits for those under the age of 21 will also have the new pink design, but will remain in a vertical layout.

Contact principal reporter Kristyn Soltis at [email protected].