New Mexico's new driver's license

If you are a resident of New Mexico and you have renewed your driver’s license lately, you have seen the new design that takes the notion of security features to a whole new level. From the obvious “ghost” photo duplicated in the opposite corner to the tiny wording that looks like part of the scenery unless you have a magnifying glass the state’s new licenses are several steps closer to what the Patriot Act will require in the way of approved identification. “The license has become so much more than the authority to drive,” said Rick Homans, secretary of taxation and revenue for New Mexico. Instead, he said driver’s licenses serve as the main form of official identification for many agencies. For instance, most travelers use their driver’s license as identification to board a plane. By 2010, Homans said, the Patriot Act will require each state to comply with Real ID security and identification measures. While Governor Bill Richardson joins about 40 other states in opposing Real ID requirements, Homans said the new state license “incorporates common sense security features.”

Those twelve security features include a new hologram, a laser-perforated zia design visible when held over a light, and microprinting with intentional typos to foil even the most dedicated counterfeiters. “The old license had very little security to it,” Homans said. Gone, topo, are the days of walking into a Motor Vehicle Division office with your old license, and back out with a new one. “We were making (licenses) in the offices,” Homans said. For last couple of months, he said, licenses have instead been processed centrally. That allows time to compare the driver’s photo to that on the old license using biometric facial recognition.

A 70 percent biometrics match requirement leaves room for those who may have had some “work” done in the way of plastic surgery, or other moderate changes since their last photo was taken. “That’s all gone very smoothly,” Homans said of the transition to the new license cards. The checks, however, are effective in preventing fraud. “There have been a couple of places where we had people with multiple personalities,” Homans said. “We’re working with the state police on those.”