Florida driver’s licenses change design

Jordan Liebman, whose license is about to expire on his upcoming birthday, Nov. 5, will be among the first in Alachua County with a new design on his Florida license.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles began issuing its most secure and technologically advanced driver license and ID card to date this past August, said Alexis Bakofsky, the deputy communications director.

“This has been a process over the last few years,” Bakofsky said. “The department has worked in conjunction with law enforcement, tax collectors and supervisors of elections to start looking at the redesign.”

Circulation of the design, which has not been updated since 2003, is increasing across Florida, and in November, all three Alachua County tax collector’s offices will begin issuing the new licenses, which will contain roughly a dozen new features including redundant data, ultraviolet ink and optically variable features. The downtown location, located at 12 SE First St., will start Nov. 7, while the other two locations will begin distributing the new license later that week.

By the end of December, the new credential will be available at every tax collector’s office and DMV service station in Florida, Bakofsky said.

Liebman, a Santa Fe College agriculture senior, said he is really looking forward to receiving the new license and the designations offered on the card.

“I like the card’s new graphic design much more than the old one, it feels more Floridian to me,” the 23-year-old said. “Plus, it’s an added bonus that my driver license will now serve as my (Florida Wildlife Conservation) license too.”

Bakofsky said the department wanted to make sure the card’s new design represents what people love about the state while still serving its security purposes.

“We want to make sure the card is uniquely Florida,” she said.