Georgia has a new license plate design -- and this time there's no doubt about it.
After scrapping an earlier online vote due to confusion over the phrase "In God We Trust" included in some designs, state officials on Monday announced that the do-over vote resulted in the same outcome: Linda Sosebee's bucolic image of rolling fields framed with peaches took took the prize.
Sosebee, an artist and champion sporting clays shooter from middle Georgia's Monroe County, won a popular vote that saw more than 500,000 votes cast, Revenue Commissioner Doug MacGinnitie said. Her design was chosen above two other finalists by a panel of art and design professors.
In the re-vote Sosebee's design received more than 34,000 online votes, more than twice the runner up's total. Sosebee won a signed print of her design and was handed the first official plate featuring her creation.
Drivers will get the new plates when they move to the state or need to buy new ones.
The contest to pick a new plate design made national news in July when MacGinnitie announced the vote would be done over because of criticism and confusion about whether the phrase "In God We Trust" might be part of the design.
Several semi-finalists chosen in the first round of voting featured the phrase in the spot at the bottom of the plate where the county name usually appears. The Revenue Department's website didn't make it clear that those entries were merely showing what the plate would look like with an optional "In God We Trust" sticker motorist can already purchase for $1.
Standard tags will still use the county sticker unless the motorist chooses that option.
Noting Sosebee's prowess as a national and world champion sharpshooter, Gov. Nathan Deal quipped it's no surprise she won.
"I suppose we must have been afraid to vote against her," he said.
Sosebee is also an accomplished artist who has created murals for the Department of Corrections, the Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber of Commerce, and several hospitals and private practices. She's also designed business logos.
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