Woman's claim of gold-star glitch on Real ID was actually human error, state official says
Oklahoma is less than six months away from the deadline to be Real ID compliant, and if you just got one, you might want to pull it out and check it.
KOCO 5 has heard from some people who don’t have the required gold star needed to travel. So, we talked to the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety about why this happened.
A woman shared her experience online after receiving her Real ID in the mail. She noticed it didn’t have a gold star at the top and that it read “not for Real ID purposes.”
That gold star is needed on the Real ID to travel in the U.S. or to enter a federal building after Oct. 1.
The woman believed the incident was a glitch, but Sarah Stewart, with the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, said it was human error.
“It happens from time to time,” Stewart said.
She told KOCO 5 that the system defaults to issue a non-compliant credential.
“That’s kind of a failsafe, and then we don’t want to accidentally get somebody a Real ID if they don’t have the correct documents,” Stewart said. “We actually have to go in and check to make it a Real ID credential. And if that box does not get checked, it defaults to a non-compliant. So, that’s more than likely what happened in this case.”
You can take your Real ID back to the agency where you got it to get a new one. Whether the agency will charge you is up to them, but Oklahoma Department of Public Safety officials said they won’t charge.
“Just kind of double check when you get that credential in the mail if you were expecting a Real ID,” Stewart said.