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Ohio's New License Plate is a Blast From the Past With a Twist

Ohio Dept. of Public Safety Director Charlie Norman and First Lady Fran DeWine watch as Gov. Mike DeWine holds the new license plate.
Jo Ingles
/
Statehouse News Bureau
From left to right, Ohio Dept. of Public Safety Director Charlie Norman and First Lady Fran DeWine watch as Gov. Mike DeWine holds the new license plate.

Ohio’s vehicle license plates are getting their first overhaul since the “Ohio Pride” design was put out in 2013. The new plate is reminiscent of the one issued during Democratic former Gov. Ted Strickland’s time in office.

The new plate has some features that were also on the Beautiful Ohio plate that was put out in 2010. Those include a sunrise, a farm scene, a city skyline, and the Wright Brothers plane, though an edit was made to that last feature after complaints were made about it flying backward.

original 2021 "Sunrise in Ohio" license plate with the plane flying backward.
Jo Ingles
/
Statehouse News Bureau
The original 2021 "Sunrise in Ohio" license plate with the plane flying backward.

The corrected "Sunrise in Ohio" license plate with the plane flying forward.
Governor Mike DeWine's office
/
Office of Gov. Mike DeWine
The corrected "Sunrise in Ohio" license plate with the plane flying forward.

There’s a new addition to this plate: a little girl on a tree swing with her dog sitting on the ground beside her. Gov. Mike DeWine sort of admits the dog looks like "Dolly," the springer spaniel the first family owns.

“Yea, the dog has some resemblance to a springer spaniel," DeWine said with a chuckle.

This new plate is called “Sunrise in Ohio.” DeWine says it celebrates the state’s diversity and the state’s bold, bright future. It will be available to drivers beginning Dec. 29.
Copyright 2021 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.