A new federal lawsuit has been filed challenging the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ process for approving or rejecting personalized license plates.
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Three drivers claim the state’s rules are inconsistently applied, discriminatory, and violate First Amendment protections.
The lawsuit centers on the BMV’s process for customized plates, where hundreds of requests are denied annually, our news partners at WBNS reported.
The agency states it rejects plates deemed offensive, vulgar or those that promote violence.
William Saki, who identifies as gay, successfully sued the state in the past to obtain a vanity plate that read “GAY,” which the BMV initially deemed inappropriate.
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Saki said he felt the BMV’s actions were singling out his community.
‘’I know that the BMV wasn’t targeting me specifically, but as a community, I felt that we were being singled out and weren’t allowed to get the plates that we wanted,’’ Saki said.
He also stated that labeling his identity as inappropriate was unacceptable.
‘’And so to say that something like that is inappropriate is saying that my life is inappropriate,’’ Saki said.
Brian Bardwell, attorney representing the three plaintiffs, has been working on the BMV issue for several years.
“I have not seen anything at any point that suggests that any of these sensors have any kind of qualifications to be doing this other than access to urbandictionary.com.’’
The lawsuit highlights other rejected plates, including “MF TNDRA,” which the applicant claims stands for ‘’My Family Tundra’’ after the Toyota Tundra, and “MAFIA,” which was denied despite the state allowing “NO MAFIA.”
The lawsuit notes that over the past five years, the BMV has issued more than 1,000 plates containing ‘’MF,’’ including examples like MF Caddy, MF Cobra and BIG MF.
Bardwell acknowledged potential criticism but maintained the plaintiffs’ transparency regarding their intentions.
‘’I don’t think we’re trying to sneak anything by the BMV. We’re being very upfront about what we want,’’ Bardwell said.
The lawsuit argues that Ohio’s vanity plate guidelines ‘’are unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, fail to give a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice of what messages are forbidden, and authorize and encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.’’
A previous lawsuit involving the same issue required the BMV to establish a clearer process for appealing a rejected vanity plate. The current plaintiffs state this has not happened.
When WBNS reached out for comment, the BMV stated that the department does not comment on pending lawsuits.
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to determine whether Ohio’s vanity plate review process violates First Amendment protections.
It also seeks to require clearer and more consistent standards for plate approvals.
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