Thousands of Michigan Residents Got IDs With the Same Mystery Man’s Face

About 8,200 Michigan residents received enhanced driver's licenses or state IDs bearing the same unfamiliar man's face and a generic birth date after a vendor printing error affected thousands of government-issued credentials.

The Michigan Department of State said the error involved a batch of enhanced licenses and IDs printed Aug. 26 by IDEMIA, the state's card vendor. Instead of the cardholder's smaller photo and birth date in the lower-right corner, the affected credentials displayed a stock image of a smiling man and placeholder information.

The image and birth date did not belong to another Michigan resident, according to the state. Corrected cards have been mailed automatically, and affected residents do not need to request replacements.

The mistake involved more than ordinary driver's licenses. Michigan enhanced licenses and IDs can be used to verify identity and U.S. citizenship for certain border crossings, including re-entry into the United States by land or sea from Canada and Mexico. They are also REAL ID compliant for domestic air travel and access to certain federal facilities.

Michigan's enhanced license program received federal approval in 2008 as states prepared for stricter identification requirements under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. Those rules took effect for land and sea crossings in June 2009.

Enhanced IDs and REAL IDs are not identical. Michigan's enhanced credentials meet REAL ID requirements, but they also carry border-crossing privileges that a standard REAL ID-compliant license does not provide.

The cards also contain an RFID chip that allows U.S. Customs and Border Protection to connect the credential to government records used to verify identity and citizenship. Michigan says the chip contains a reference number rather than personal information.

That means the visible printing error affected a credential designed for federal identity and citizenship checks, while the state says the incorrect photo and birth date were generic placeholders rather than another resident's data.

Residents waiting for corrected cards can print a temporary license or ID online or obtain one at a Michigan Secretary of State branch. Anyone whose previous credential has not expired can continue using it while waiting for the replacement.

IDEMIA produces Michigan's driver's licenses and state identification cards. State officials have blamed the Aug. 26 misprints on a vendor error but have not publicly explained why the same stock image and generic birth date appeared on thousands of credentials.