What will new RI license plate look like? State to unveil Top 5 finalists on Monday – The Providence Journal
The Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles has sifted through 940 designs for a new Rhode Island license plate and found its favorite five.
On Monday those five designs will be revealed so voters can pick one as the replacement to the “wave” plate design that has graced Rhode Island automobiles since 1996.
In a news release, the DMV said the winner of the design contest “could” replace the wave, but it is unclear why or under what conditions the winner of the design contest would not become the new plate.
DMV spokesman Paul Grimaldi confirmed that the blue wave design will not be one of the online voting options.
Voting for the five finalist plate designs will take place online and last two weeks.
Regardless the outcome of the design contest, the wave design will not disappear entirely.
Grimaldi said that the green wave design will remain the plate given to electric vehicles.
The wave plate was created by graphic designer Tyler Smith.
Once a new design is chosen, the new plates are scheduled to hit the streets starting July 1. At that point, automobile owners will be charged an extra $8 and be sent a set of plates featuring the new design when they next register their vehicle. The process of swapping out every old wave plate will take two years.
Charity plates and other specialty plates will not be affected by the change in the standard issue plate design.
States are supposed to replace their license plates every 10 years to prevent damaged, difficult to read plates from being on the road. Changing the image also makes it more difficult for people to drive without renewing their registration, because once the reissuance is complete any plate with the old design will be expired and easy to spot.
Governors Carcieri, Chafee and Raimondo all delayed the planned change in plates due to the cost.
The new plates will be digitally printed by vendor 3M.
In January the DMV released a sampling of the design contest entries and said it will release all of the designs after the contest is finished.
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