"This is a new day for the former, problem-plagued New Jersey DMV," Gov. Jim McGreevey said. "Until my administration fixed the old DMV, New Jersey had fallen behind the technology used in other states. Our old driver licenses were considered the easiest to duplicate for fraud."
"Our new digital driver licenses are virtually counterfeit-proof, with nearly two dozen new security features. To get one, every resident -- including the governor -- has to provide 'six points of identification' -- a measure that will keep these licenses from falling into the wrong hands," the governor continued.
The New Jersey MVC has been rolling out digital driver license technology to motor vehicle agencies since January 20, when the Trenton Regional Service Center became the first to issue the new licenses. Today, 25 MVC agencies are issuing digital licenses.
The MVC expects that all remaining 20 agencies will have the technology needed to issue digital drivers' licenses by the end of June. At that point, the state will stop issuing paper licenses, and motorists will no longer be able to renew their licenses by mail. New Jersey's old, non-photo and laminated photo licenses will be phased out as they expire over the next couple of years.
The 100,000th digital license is a milestone, but it represents only a little more than 1 percent of the nearly six million licensed drivers in New Jersey.
New Jersey's digital license is one of the largest projects ever undertaken by state government in New Jersey. The Garden State's digital license is one of the most secure drivers' licenses in the country, and is chief among the many security upgrades required by the Motor Vehicle Security and Customer Service Act, which McGreevey signed into law in January 2003.
