NYS License Plate Designs You Did Not Know Existed

On August 19, Governor Cuomo's Office announced a plan starting in April of 2020 to replace old New York State license plates with a new design to be chosen through voting.  There are five designs to choose from for the vote, one of which will become the new plate for New York State vehicles.

The new design plates will replace the old Empire Blue & White plates, most of which are more than 10 years old. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will also stop issuing the Empire Gold plates and begin fully transitioning to the new design.

If you decide that you don't like any of the new designs, you can always upgrade to a plate that you identify more with.  I didn't realize the number of options available for New Yorkers!  There are a variety of plates available in different categories:

• I Love NY Adventure Plates
• Sports
• Military and Veterans
• Counties and Regions of NY State
• Colleges, Fraternities, Sororities
• Causes
• Professions
• Organizations
• Motorcycle Plates

The category that most interested me was "Counties and Regions of NY State".  Below is the "Central Leatherstocking Region" plate available for Broome, Chenango, Herkimer, Madison, Montgomery, Oneida, Otsego and Schoharie Counties.

This next plate is designated for the "Catskills Region" and available for Delaware, Greene, Sullivan and Ulster Counties.

I like the Leatherstocking region plate with the covered bridge but the Catskills Region plate is disappointing.  What is that building on the plate?  After doing some research, it looks like the historic Senate House in Kingston, NY but I'm not certain.  It seems to me that the designer of this plate could have done better than that.  Shouldn't there be mountains pictured or perhaps a river which is a more broad representation of those counties?  Better yet, put both of those things in.  I'm not impressed with the choice of picture on this plate.

If you want to check out all the options for New York license plates, click here.