By Jessica Holdman
SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s new driver’s license will feature state symbols, including yellow jessamine, the Carolina wren and the loggerhead sea turtle, an homage to the state’s flora and fauna.
In addition to the Palmetto State imagery, the new design released Tuesday will contain more than 40 advanced security features, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Residents with licenses won’t need to get an updated card until their existing one expires.
“These new licenses and ID cards showcase the Palmetto State while providing citizens with greater protection against becoming victims of identity fraud,” DMV Director Kevin Shwedo said in a statement. “We hope that South Carolinians will look on these new designs with pride and confidence.”
The official designations for the imagery on the cards date to 1924, when the Legislature made the yellow jessamine the state flower. Fifteen years later, the South Carolina palmetto — or, technically, the sabal palmetto — became the state tree. The Carolina wren has been the state bird since 1948.
The loggerhead sea turtle, featured on the back of licenses issued to drivers under 21, is the most recent symbol in the design. It became the state reptile in 1988.
The new licenses, beginner’s permits and identification cards are made of stronger material that won’t peel apart. Use of laser engraving and multicolor printing makes them more difficult to counterfeit, said agency spokesman Mike Fitts.
The state will continue to print vertical cards for drivers under the age of 21, as has been practice in the state since 2010. For teens and young adults, their licenses will give the dates when they turn 18 and 21 years old.
Unlike the current system, in which a person visiting a DMV office can get with a license or ID before walking out the door, the cards will be made at secure production facilities and sent out in the mail within seven to 15 business days. This method is already used in 45 other states, according to the DMV.
Residents will be sent home with temporary certificates, valid for up to 30 days, as they wait for their permanent ID to arrive. To help ensure the cards reach the appropriate destination, the DMV will require customers to verify their addresses when they apply. And the temporary certificate will include a QR code that can be used to track the processing of a license or ID card, Fitts previously told the SC Daily Gazette.
The new cards and process for will begin in late August, starting at two Midlands locations: Shop Road in Columbia and Lexington’s Park Road branch. A statewide rollout to the other 63 locations is expected later in the fall, according to the agency.
Residents are urged not to wait until their licenses expiration date to renew them, to allow time for mail delivery. The DMV sends renewal notices by mail 90 days prior to expiration of a customer’s current card.
License fees will remain the same: An eight-year license is $25. And IDs for people 17 and older are still free.
Jessica Holdman writes about the economy, workforce and higher education. Before joining the SC Daily Gazette, she was a business reporter for The Post and Courier. S.C. Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
