Buying a six-pack. Casting a vote. Verification after swiping a credit card.

Proper identification is needed in a variety of everyday tasks — and the state’s updated IDs are expected to help guard against fraud and identity theft.

Buying a six-pack. Casting a vote. Verification after swiping a credit card.

Proper identification is needed in a variety of everyday tasks — and the state’s updated IDs are expected to help guard against fraud and identity theft.

The Kansas Department of Revenue recently released its latest design for Kansas driver’s licenses and state identification cards. With several added security measures, the cards are meant to help stop counterfeiting efforts, Jeannine Koranda, with the state department of revenue, said.

“The new security features make it harder for counterfeiters to create a fraudulent ID,” she said.

Slowing down identity fraud with the new features is one of the department’s main motivations in making this change, Koranda said. Underage people making IDs to get alcohol or tobacco are only a small part of what the state is concerned with, she said.

One alcohol merchant is pleased with the changes because they should help his business operate within the confines of the law.

“Anything to make sure that people are of age is appreciated,” Kirby Snider, owner of Blue Sky Liquor, 1410 S. Main St., Ottawa, said.

Like the previous IDs, people who are younger than 21 will be issued a vertical-oriented license. People who are 21 or older will have horizontal IDs. That method makes checking people’s identification a quicker and easier process, Snider said.

“We just want all the help we can get to make sure we’re not selling to underage people,” Snider said.

States typically update their identification cards every four to six years. While the old card was very secure, Koranda said, the change is an attempt to thwart potential counterfeiters’ efforts.

“We don’t want to wait for the counterfeiters to figure out how to copy the card,” Koranda said. “We want to be out in front of the them because getting a driver’s license is the basis for a lot of identity fraud.”

The new card, which began being issued this week, includes such security features as:

• An ultraviolet image of the cardholder’s portrait and date of birth on the back of the card.  

• Multi-colored, highly detailed holograms.

• An ultraviolet image of the state flower.

• Tactile printing and etched images.

“Those are just little things that are going to make it very hard to make it pass inspection,” Koranda said.

The updated design is expected to make the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office’s job easier, Jerrod Fredricks, master deputy with the sheriff’s office, said.

“Anytime if it’s going to make our job easier in the sense that just being able to look at it and see,” Fredricks said, adding the office likely will have training so its deputies are prepared for the new IDs.

Deputies sometimes use flashlights to see the holographic images on the old IDs, Fredricks said, and likely still will. In addition, law enforcement agencies have access to other information to check that an ID is valid. But since businesses don’t have access to such information, Fredricks suggested they have a small UV light so they too can check the validity of a license.

As with the current practice, the new licenses are mailed to residents within days of applying with the state. Drivers receive a printed slip of paper until the new cards arrive. The cost for a new license and renewal remains the same at $29 and $26 respectively. Driver’s licenses and ID cards using the old design still will be valid, and people will not need to get a new card until their current cards expire.