Governor says vanity license plates with religious terms will be approved

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) -

Gov. Henry McMaster has released a statement saying that applications for vanity license plates that contain religious terms will be approved despite what SCDMV officials say. 

McMaster gave the statement responding to a letter written by Sen. Chip Campsen concerning a Live 5 News investigative piece. 

Earlier this month, Ann McGill conducted an investigation of what drivers can place on their license plates, specifically religious based terms. 

In the investigation, we learned that a plate officer, and her team at the DMV make the final call, on what can, and can't go on vanity plate and they base a lot of it on political correctness.

At the time of the investigation, DMV officials said the words "Christ," "Jesus," "Judah," and "Jehovah" were among a list of banned words. 

McMaster said those words are constitutionally protected expressions of free speech. 

"Applications for vanity license plates that contain religious words or terms such as, but not limited to “God,” “Jesus,” “Christ,” “Jehovah,” or “Church” shall be approved," McMaster said in a reply to Campsen's letter on Wednesday."These are constitutionally protected expressions of free speech. Applications for vanity license plates that contain words or terms generally known and recognized to be profane, vulgar, racist, sexist, sacrilegious, offensive, or inappropriate shall be denied."