“VOTE,” “HIUGLY” among the vanity plates rejected by Colorado in 2022

It’s easy to see why some vanity license plate requests were rejected by the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles in 2022.

“HIUGLY.” “FBOY.” “BEEOCH.”

Others are more difficult to discern.

“VOTE,” for example, was determined by the state to be among the more than 140 vanity plates requested by drivers that were too “lewd, crude and/ or rude,” according to a news release from the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles. “EGAD” met the same fate.

“We love the creativity and personal pride Coloradoans take in picking their personalized plate,” DMV senior director Electra Bustle said in the news release. “While most personalized plates are approved, there are a small percentage that do not meet DMV standards and are rejected.”

Judgment day for Colorado drivers is primarily overseen by an internal system, DRIVES, which DMV staffers run vanity plate requests through to check whether they’re flagged by a list of compiled offensive words and terms built over the years using the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators’ recommendations.

The terms are reviewed periodically by a committee of DMV staff members, said Derek Kuhn, DMV and tax communications manager. A two-thirds majority is needed to approve or deny a license plate configuration, Kuhn said.

The words or phrases can be removed from the list by committee vote, or if the DMV is ordered following a hearing to remove and issue the configuration, the news release said. A customer can appeal this decision with the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Hearings Division.

In 2022, one customer appealed his plate being recalled and requested a hearing, Kuhn said. However, the DMV worked with the customer to reconfigure his plate idea before the hearing, and the customer was pleased with the result — which Kuhn said was confidential to protect the driver’s privacy — and left sans hearing.

Other drivers were not so lucky.

“BULL,” “HAULNSS,” “ANUSTART” and “SOBERAF” all received a thumbs down from the state, according to the full list of rejects.

Anyone interested in personalizing one of the state’s 212 license plate designs at an additional cost of $60 plus regular fees can give it a shot. Personalized plates can cost between $25 and $75 and can be completed online, in- office or at an MV Express Kiosk for Coloradans in participating counties.

May the odds be ever in your FAVOR.