With its infamous long lines, going to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get your license is usually nothing to smile about. These days, it's a mandatory no-big-smiles policy in New Jersey, one of a growing list of states that tell drivers drivers to keep a poker face in their license photos.

Since February, New Jersey motorists have had to maintain neutral expressions on their faces for photographs because of new face-recognition software. Exaggerated facial expressions, like smiling widely, can confuse this software, which is intended to catch fraud, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.

This practice is nothing new and works with other photo guidelines, like eyes needing to be open and no glasses, New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission spokesperson Elyse Coffey told NBC News on Thursday.

"Please don’t give us the 'I-just-won-five-million-dollars-in-the-lottery-smile," Coffey said. Instead, she said, residents can smile in a natural way.

Using the facial-recognition technology is part of New Jersey's effort to go through 19 million photo records to catch duplicates, scammers who are trying to create a new identity or people trying to cheat another state agency for services, according to Coffey.

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On Tuesday, New Jersey resident Velvet S. McNeil told the Daily News that she was so baffled why she couldn't smile when she went to take her driver's license picture in Cherry Hill, N.J., that she left in protest. "Why should we all look like androids, looking mopey? I know there are some people who don't have good driver's licenses, but I actually keep all mine," McNeil told the Daily News.

But now that McNeil, 38, knows about the policy, she told the Daily News that she will return to renew her license.

Related: Awkward baby passport photo goes viral

"Some, not all, of the facial recognition technologies can be adversely impacted if a person’s expression is anything other than neutral," said Claire O'Brien, spokesperson for the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, in a statement. "In other words, smiling could potentially affect the accuracy of the technology."

New Jersey is not alone in its photo rule: Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia are among states that require "neutral facial expressions" to combat fraud, according to a USA TODAY report in 2009.

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GLOUCESTER, Va. -- The Department of Motor Vehicles asked a Gloucester man to return his license plates seven years after he first registered the tags. According to the DMV, the message on them is inappropriate.

Rick Sanders said he chose "FOSAMA" because he is passionate about supporting the nation's military. Sanders bought his first vanity plate after the September 11 terrorist attacks. That plate read "H8UBIN."

But, it's his latest plates that are causing all the commotion.

 "It can be meant as 'Fight Osama, forget Osama,' whatever you want it to be," said Sanders.

Two months before his current plates are set to expire, Sanders received a letter from the DMV saying he has 30 days to return them. The letter said the DMV made an error issuing him plates that violate its guidelines. The DMV explained the plates are "profane, obscene or vulgar in nature."

Replacement plates came with the letter, and in an ironic twist, Sanders told WAVY.com he finds the message on them offensive. They read "6668UP." Sanders read the message as 'the devil ate you up.'

 "I definitely want another plate," said Sanders. "I don't appreciate the plate they sent me. I would like the chance to pick my own."

'Inappropriate'
A spokesperson for the DMV said the number and letter combinations are chosen at random. The DMV is willing to work with Sanders until he is satisfied.

The DMV said judging by how long it's been since Sanders registered, the change is probably provoked by a complaint.

The DMV physically reviews vanity plates, and sometimes runs them through software that reads the message both forward and backward.

If additional review is needed, the plates will go before a committee of 12 people, chosen from within the DMV. The committee members are all different ages and come from different backgrounds in the agency.

Read original story, watch video on WAVY.com

Here are the conditions that deem a plate "inappropriate." If the combination of characters carries, in any way, a connotation that may be reasonably seen by a person viewing the plate as:

• Profane, obscene, or vulgar in nature
• Sexually explicit or graphic
• Excretory related
• Used to describe intimate body parts or genitals
• Used to describe drugs, drug culture, or drug use
• Used to condone or encourage violence
• Used to describe illegal activities or illegal substances
• Socially, racially, or ethnically offensive or disparaging

A spokesperson said 13 percent of the 7.5 million vehicles in the Commonwealth have vanity plates. In  2011, the state made $9 million from vanity plate purchases, according to a DMV spokesperson.

The DMV committee will only review putting '666' on license plates if they receive a significant number of consumer complaints.

What do you think? Vote in the poll we pasted on the WAVY TV 10 Facebook page.

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