New Jersey Tells Drivers: No Smiles Allowed in License Photos

New Jersey motorists have another reason to frown about their driver’s license photos.

The state has banned motorists from making big smiles because such expressions don’t work with facial recognition software. The facial recognition technology is used to scan 18 million photographs for signs of driver’s license fraud. Photos that are flagged as suspicious are reviewed before that person can renew their license.

The policy has gone mostly unnoticed since taking effect in January. But Velvet McNeil, an art director for a nonprofit group from Sicklerville, is trying to bring it to light. She tells The Philadelphia Daily News she was so mad about being told not to smile when she went to get her license last month that she stormed out of the Cherry Hill Motor Vehicle Commission office. After learning the reason for the policy, the 38-year-old says she’ll go back and pose with a slight smile.