Let the record show that Iowa plates reached the end of the N’s before the end of 2023.
What will the next leading letter be? That’s not necessarily an obvious answer, since the 1997 series jumped from N to P. With the slashed-zero mandatory, O may be palatable this time. We’ll find out soon enough.
Also, let the record show that Minnesota has copied Iowa on the blackout plates. The North Star State will be doing the same deal as Iowa, offering the white-on-black as a custom option.
(But maybe we can’t call it the North Star, or more accurately and Frenchly, L’etoile du Nord, anymore. Minnesota is in the final stages of cancelling its state flag and seal, and retaining the state’s official motto and year of statehood for the new ones was deemed too divisive.)