TOPEKA — Stars, wheat, or sunflowers?
How about none of the above?
Gov. Laura Kelly on Monday announced the results of the public vote for a new license plate design. The winner: A design that features the top of the Statehouse dome and the iconic Ad Astra statue. The design garnered 53% of the almost 270,000 votes cast during a weeklong voting period.
“It’s great to see Kansans’ passion for representing our great state,” said Kelly. “Now, we can move forward on a design that received majority support and get clearer, safer license plates on the streets as soon as possible.”
The occasion marks the first time the Kansas public has been allowed to weigh in on state tags, and comes after widespread disapproval of an initial option. The first license plate design, released in late November, had a University of Missouri color scheme. Many Kansans took to social media to voice their disapproval of the design, and state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle reported a flood of complaints from constituents.
Kelly yanked the proposed plate and offered five new designs to be voted on by the Kansas public through a government website. The new plate designs, created by a Kansas-based marketing firm, incorporated public feedback on design colors and images to create options ranging from a blue and white pattern with prominently displayed wheat stalks, which received 19% of the vote, to a sunflower design with black-on-white writing, which received 10% of the vote. Other options received 13% and 5% of the vote.
Votes from all 105 counties poured in over the course of a week. The debate also garnered a second social media storm as people debuted their own drawn designs, or sent over plate designs to the governor’s office.
Kelly acknowledged this enthusiasm of Kansans, but said the government-offered designs were more in line with federal guidelines for license plates.
“So many of the designs circulated on social media and sent to my office are beautiful works of art but, unfortunately, cannot be used given the strict public safety, printing, and branding guidelines the new license plate has to meet,” Kelly said. “Kansans will notice that license plates across the country are moving to simpler designs — that’s because of law enforcement and license plate reader requirements. Our No. 1 priority with these license plates is safety.”
