From now until April 18 Indiana residents will have the chance to pick what the new state license plates will look like.
Voting for the new design began Monday online.
The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles Web site (in.gov/bmv/vote) has a sample of four possible license plates. Citizens can vote online by going to the BMV web site or cast their ballot in a BMV license branch. Branch associates will have paper ballot copies available. The one with the most votes will be announced sometime in May with the winning entry being the new license plate beginning in January of 2008.
"We want to hear from as many Hoosiers as possible," said BMV Commissioner Ron Stiver. "This is a great way for customers to have an active voice in choosing this visible state symbol."
In addition to the design change there will be other changes as well. One is the plates will be used for five years instead of the current four years.
* It's expected to allow the BMV to reduce the risk of license plate fraud.
* It should enable the BMV to offer customers the convenience of expanded services through non-branch locations such as auto dealerships, banks and motor clubs.
* And it should save Hoosiers up to $1 million annually through reduced inventory costs.
Currently, all branches must stock plates from all 92 counties. Under the new system, only stickers for all counties would have to be stocked, reducing costs and requiring less storage space.
As far as the designs, two of the designs came from Pen Products; the Indiana Department of Correction program uses state prison inmate labor to manufacture the plates. Option No. 3 is from BMV employees and No. 4 is from an Indianapolis firm, Main One Media.
According to the BMV the new license plate will replace the "Back Home Again" standard plate - not the optional "In God We Trust" design introduced this year. The "In God We Trust" license plate has become very popular with 389,575 being handed out since becoming available in January.