Albertans vote for realism in new licence plate design

Albertans cast more than 164,000 votes to select a new licence plate for the province.

The winning design:option 2, showing a realistic photo of the Rocky Mountains and the prairies.

It was a very close race all the way through, said Kathleen Range with Service Alberta.

Option 2 beat Option 1, a blue-and-yellow illustration of the Rockies, sky and prairie, by only 4,644 votes.

Option 3 came in a distant third place with only six per cent of the votes.

The three designs under consideration were given to the provincial government for free by U.S. company3M.

Listen to Kathleen Range's full conversation with CBC's Mark Connolly

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Now that voting is over, Range said Service Alberta will wade through the many emailed comments it received over the course of the survey.

One recurring complaint has been the white space across the middle of the winning design, Range said.

So thats one thing, that if we do hear this overwhelming throughout the feedback, well look at making that adjustment.

She said Service Alberta also has yet to decide on whether or not to include a slogan.

The final design will be unveiled sometime this fall.

The new plates are expected to be available by spring 2015. This will be the first time in 30 years that Alberta has changed its licence plates.