I had no idea until today that we weren't supposed to do this in our diverse license pictures. I know almost no one does, but really? Illegal? Turns out...yeah, it kinda is illegal to smile in your DMV photo! Does the government want us to look icky? No, but they do want us to look a certain way. Here's the scoop.

For a long time, it was only Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, and Arkansas that banned people from smiling for your driver's license. Then New Jersey became the fifth state to make smiling illegal on your license. And now, with Real ID, the federal government doesn't want us to smile because...smiling makes facial recognition harder (SOURCE).

That's right...the whole thing comes down to your driver's license being in a huge database, and the government being able to search that database effectively. So, am I breaking the law? Nope...no big smile. Barely a smirk.

Listen to James Rabe 6a to 10a on Y-105 FM, and 2p to 6p on 103.9 The Doc.

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