Maine coming close to ridding license plates of obscenities

The rackin’ frackin’ sassafrassin’ salty language on hundreds of Maine license plates is one step closer to being removed from the road.

Maine’s secretary of state released draft rules this week that would eliminate references to genitalia, sex acts and profanities after the state severely loosened language restrictions on socalled vanity license plates in 2015.

The rough and foul language on the plates led to a steady stream of complaints.

“Incitement to violence, profanity, ethnic, racial, religious, or other slurs, or reference to illegal or criminal activity — all of which unfortunately can be seen on Maine registration plates today — are all directly contrary to the public interest,” Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said in a statement.

In Maine, there are about 121,000 vanity license plates on the roads in a state with about 1.3 million residents.