PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Illinois license plate stickers look different this year, and some people are wondering why.
“It was a little odd,” said one Jeremy Brown, Peoria resident.
The Spokesperson for the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office, Dave Druker said it’s a problem that emerged in 2022 due to paper shortages.
When you bought a bought license plate sticker before 2022, it included the month and year of expiration along with the license plate number, but as shortages plague the nation, the state’s office had to pivot.
“Because of paper shortage, that became impossible to do so we came up with an alternative system which seems to be working very well,” said Druker.
That new system looks like this.
A green sticker with the year of expiration 2023 and the state of Illinois is also printed.
Druker said the stickers they purchased could not be personalized like in years past.
“I did notice the stickers are different, but I didn’t question them,” said Brown.
Brown purchased a new license sticker Tuesday, he said he slashes his new stickers to prevent people from stealing them.
“Especially without the license number on the sticker, more people could be prone to stealing them. It seems like there would be a lot more fraud issues now,” said Brown.
What happens when police pull you over?
“What they are going to do is check the law enforcement system and check. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem for law enforcement, they would’ve checked that anyway regardless of the date on the back license plate,” said Druker.
When will the original stickers make a comeback?
“Well, the plan is to go back to the old system at the beginning of the calendar year of 2023,” said Druker.
How will you remember when it expires?
“There will be a registration card that one is supposed to keep in the automobile compartment and that will have the date on it,” said Druker.
Druker said once you buy the new sticker, it’s good for one year. He said it does not expire on January 2023.
There’s also an extension on renewing your driver’s license and ID cards until December first of this year.
