Printing error leads to thousands of Michigan residents getting driver’s licenses with random man’s picture
Por Brendan Rascius — – World RSS Feed
Printing error leads to thousands of Michigan residents getting driver’s licenses with random man’s picture
‘I looked at my license and see that this man was on here, and I automatically knew that it wasn’t right,’ one recipient said
Brendan Rascius in New York Friday 11 September 2026 14:44 BST
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Thousands of Michigan residents received driver’s licenses and state IDs bearing the photo of a random man, a mistake officials attributed to a printing error.
The misprinted cards showed a smiling Black man in the lower-right-hand corner with a birth date of Jan. 12, 1967. Where the holder’s name should appear, the back instead read “last name,” “first name” and “middle,” according to WDIV.
“I looked at my license and see that this man was on here, and I automatically knew that it wasn’t right,” one recipient told the outlet.
Another said: “At first, I really didn’t think. I’m like, OK, maybe they’re putting the Secretary of State on the licenses. But then I’m like, girl, the secretary of state is not a Black man.”
About 8,200 people across Michigan received the faulty cards after renewing or applying for an enhanced driver’s license or state ID, the Secretary of State’s office said in a September 5 news release.
Officials traced the error to an August 26 printing mishap by their vendor, Idemia.
“The misprinted information is generic and is not the information of another resident,” the release said, adding that the erroneous image in the corner of the card is a stock photo.
Michigan has already mailed corrected cards; recipients of the misprinted versions do not need to reapply. Affected residents can print a temporary ID online or at any secretary of state office, officials said.
The Independent has contacted Idemia for comment.
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