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Vendor misprint sends wrong IDs to thousands of Michigan residents

Vendor misprint sends wrong IDs to thousands of Michigan residents

Built World Grand Rapids, MI local

8,200 enhanced licenses and IDs had stock photos and wrong birth dates

Today: WOODTV reports on misprint

Overview

Updated 2 hours ago

About 8,200 Michigan residents opened their mail this week. Inside was a driver's license with a stock photo and a date of birth that wasn't theirs.

The cards, printed Aug. 26 by the state's vendor Idemia, carried the wrong information in the lower-right corner. Corrected cards are already in the mail, and affected residents don't need to do anything. The misprint is a quality-control failure in a supply chain Michigan relies on for millions of identity documents a year.

Why it matters

One vendor error put wrong photos on 8,200 government-issued IDs, and Michigan's identity system depends on that single private company.

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Key Indicators

8,200
Misprinted cards
Enhanced licenses and IDs printed with stock photos and wrong birth dates
100%
Corrected cards mailed
State says all affected residents have received or will receive corrected cards
1
Vendor responsible
Idemia, the state's card production vendor, printed the erroneous batch

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People Involved

Organizations Involved

Timeline

August 2026 September 2026

4 events Latest: Today
Tap a bar to jump to that date
  1. WOODTV reports on misprint

    Today Media

    Local news outlet covers the vendor error and state response

  2. State announces misprint

    Statement

    Michigan Department of State says corrected cards are in the mail

  3. Residents receive misprinted cards

    Discovery

    Affected Michigan residents begin receiving cards with incorrect information

  4. Idemia prints misprinted batch

    Production

    Vendor produces about 8,200 enhanced licenses and IDs with stock photos and wrong birth dates

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

October 2013

Healthcare.gov launch (2013)

The federal health insurance website failed at launch, with most users unable to sign up. The site was built by multiple contractors with poor coordination, leading to a months-long fix.

Then

The site was eventually fixed, but the botched launch became a political liability for the Obama administration.

Now

The failure led to reforms in how the federal government manages IT contracts.

Why this matters now

Healthcare.gov showed the risk of government reliance on contractors, a dynamic also visible in Michigan's ID production.

2019

California REAL ID rollout (2019)

California's DMV struggled to roll out new REAL ID cards, with long delays, system errors, and some cards arriving with printing mistakes. The state had contracted with multiple vendors to produce the new cards.

Then

Californians faced long waits and some received incorrect cards, leading to public frustration.

Now

The state eventually resolved the issues, but the rollout became a cautionary tale about government ID production.

Why this matters now

Like Michigan's misprint, California's REAL ID issues showed how state ID production depends on vendors and can fail in visible ways.

Sources

(4)