From the article linked in the OP: State officials called it an unplanned exercise in what they’ve been saying for weeks: Clerks behind counters at Pennsylvania Department of Transportation centers can take age and other factors into consideration when granting exceptions to the list of documents the law requires, licensing bureau director Janet Dolan said.
“PennDot has said all along that they would work with folks on a case-by-case basis,” said Ron Ruman, a Department of State spokesman.
I know that DMVs are able to be pretty reasonable about this because when I was young, I had a problem similar to Mrs Applewhite’s. I have never had a problem getting an id, because despite some variation in paperwork, it is clear that all of it applies to me. And I was not born in a time when this sort of thing was loosely managed like Mrs Applewhite was.
Notice that at the very end of the article, they said that there was no sign the clerk recognized Mrs Applewhite.