PRESS RELEASE – Deputy PennDOT Secretary for Driver and Vehicle Services Kurt J. Myers issued the following statement on actions being taken as a result of a vendor error in some driver license products:

PennDOT learned late yesterday (Wednesday, February 25, 2015) that laminate supplied by vendors for driver’s licenses did not have the proper security image on the front of the license. The image is not visible without use of a black light device.

PennDOT arranged to have proper laminate available this morning at all Driver License and photo centers. PennDOT will be mailing replacement driver’s licenses to affected drivers at no cost to the drivers. When they receive the replacement license, they should destroy the original license.

Because of the flawed security feature, the original license may not be accepted as proof of identification when scanned by black light devices.

However, this issue should not impact security checks by the Transportation Security Administration at airports since TSA references a different security feature on the license or identification card in its verification process.

PennDOT is still determining the number of impacted licenses. At issue are some licenses issued from November to yesterday. PennDOT expects to identify holders of the defective licenses over the next week and will quickly issue free replacements.

Our vendors, MorphoTrust USA and its subcontractor OpSec, are working closely with PennDOT to address this issue. The replacement products will be replaced free of charge by MorphoTrust.