Voting Ends in Tag Design Contest

The second round of voting for Georgia’s new license plate design has now ended.

The last vote, which began in June and concluded July 8, was discarded after confusion over whether or not the statement “In God We Trust” was intended to be part of the plate design.

On July 14, the Georgia Department of Revenue revealed the three plate designs that received the most votes during the first online contest. Noticeably absent from the top designs was the statement "In God We Trust" that was displayed across the bottom of all three finalist tags during the preliminary voting.

Gov. Nathan Deal was set to reveal the winning design on Friday, July 15, however, after a public outcry regarding the missing "In God We Trust" motto, Deal elected to reopen the online voting.

During the new round of voting, all eight plate designs were left blank in the area where the county name or the “In God We Trust” decal will be displayed. According to a Department of Revenue spokesperson, the "In God We Trust" decal will be available as an optional purchase. Citizens electing to use the "In God We Trust" decal will pay an addition dollar and display it in lieu of the county name that is currently placed across the bottom of each tag. There will be no additional charge for the county decal.

According to a Georgia Department of Revenue press release, the department “encourages the public to vote for the license plate design that will advertise, popularize and otherwise promote Georgia as the Peach State.” 

The three plate designs with the most votes will once again be presented to Gov. Deal who will announce the winning design.

The finalists are expected to be presented at 3 p.m. today.