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August 2, 2006

ElizaBeth Kaufman

Jesse White Unveils New Pick-A-Plate Program at the State Fair
Allows Illinois Drivers To Search For Plates Online

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White unveiled his new program that allows Illinois motorists to search for vanity and personalized license plates and request them over the Internet.

"Vanity and personalized license plates are very popular in Illinois," White said. "More than 60,000 motorists order these plates each year. We want to make the process simple, efficient and fun by letting drivers search our website for all sorts of available names and combinations. It makes the process more efficient for the customer and our office."

Drivers can search for the plates online at the Secretary of State's website at www.CyberDriveIllinois.com. Drivers can type in the plate combination they are looking for and the computer will respond whether the plate is available or not. If the plate is not available, the system will come up with the closest match that is available.

Plate types available include: Antique motorcycle, Antique Vehicle, B-truck, Disability, Motorcycle, Passenger, Recreational Trailer, Recreational Vehicle, America Remembers, Education, Environmental, Firefighters Memorial, Mammogram, Organ Donor, Park District Youth, Pet Friendly, Police Memorial, Prevent Violence, and Route 66.

Both personalized and vanity license plates are available. Personalized license plates include letters and numbers and vanity license plates have letters only. The cost of a standard personalized license plate is the $78 registration fee plus $47 for a total of $125. The cost of a vanity license plate is $78 plus $94 for a total of $172. An additional $29 is required if switching license plates. All Secretary of State fees are set by the Illinois legislature and approved by the governor.

"We are pleased to be improving service by allowing drivers to conduct their vehicle business from their homes, offices or anywhere else they can access the Internet," White said.

White debuted the new Pick-A-Plate program at the Secretary of State's tent at the Illinois State Fair. A pilot program started on Friday and as of Tuesday it was available statewide.