PROVIDENCE, RI — Rhode Island is close to choosing its new license plate design. On Monday, the Division of Motor Vehicles unveiled the five finalists for the new design, selected from a pool of 940 submissions.

Starting Monday, Rhode Islanders can vote for their favorite of the five designs on the DMV's website. Voting will be open through March 28. Multiple entries per person are allowed.

The new plate designs come from a contest launched by the department in December. A team of DMV employees waded through the nearly 1,000 submissions to the top five, the most popular of which will replace the "wave" design that has been in use for 25 years.

Walter "Bud" Craddock, the DMV's administrator, said he was "pleased to see just how many people took the time to submit an entry."

"They certainly made the judging panel's task difficult," Craddock said. "I think the judges found five designs worthy of replacing the Wave plate, any one of which will make Rhode Islanders proud to see on their vehicles in the coming years."

The new plates will begin to be distributed later this year, the DMV said, given out with license renewals.

"I know how invested Rhode Islanders are in their home state," Gov. Dan McKee said. "When it was time to update our iconic license plate, I was glad to see hundreds of people step up and submit their creative designs. I want to thank everyone who took the time to enter the contest, and I look forward to learning which one Rhode Islanders choose."

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