Should Arizona’s state quarter show the Grand Canyon? A saguaro cactus? A combination of those two themes? Or Navajo codetalkers during World War II?
With release of Arizona’s state quarter now a year away, Gov. Janet Napolitano says Arizonans have the chance to help pick the final design.
Under an online voting page on the governor’s Web site (http://www.azgovernor.gov) as of April 10, Arizonans are able to rank each of the five designs on a 1-5 scale, with one being the favorite, Napolitano’s office said.
However, the governor is retaining the final say on the state’s recommended design to the U.S. Treasury Department.
“This is a fun opportunity for Arizonans to be involved,” said Napolitano spokeswoman Shilo Mitchell. “It is ultimately the governor’s decision, but she will take the suggestions of Arizonans seriously.”
Arizona’s recommendation is due May 1, and the quarter itself will be issued in May 2008, Napolitano’s office said.
While Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has the final approval, a spokesman for the U.S. Mint said he was unaware of the secretary ever overruling a state’s final recommendation.
By that point in the process, the secretary has already accepted a state’s design finalists, Mint spokesman Michael White noted.
“He’s already seen the five candidates,” White said of Paulson and the Arizona designs.
One of the five Arizona designs shows a multi-rayed sun peeking over a rim of the Grand Canyon. A second combines much of the first design’s image with a separate view of a Saguaro amid other desert plants. A third is devoted exclusively to a desert scene dominated by saguaros.
The fourth shows 19th Century explorer John Wesley Powell in a boat on Colorado River rapids inside the Grand Canyon, while the fifth design shows two codetalkers, U.S. Marines who used their Native American language to thwart Japanese eavesdroppers during World War II.
Each state’s quarter is supposed to be representative of the state, its history and geography and the decades-long longevity of quarters means that the chosen design will serve as “an enduring symbol of Arizona,” Napolitano stated in her Oct. 5, 2005, order establishing the commission.
The U.S. Mint, part of the Treasury Department, produced the five designs from narratives suggested by a state commission appointed by Napolitano. The commission considered more than 4,200 suggestions from the public, including many schoolchildren
The federal government in January 1999 started issuing five state quarters annually, with each state’s quarter coming out in the order of statehood.
Arizona became the 48th state on Feb. 14, 1912, and its quarter will be issued in 2008, after Oklahoma and New Mexico but before Alaska and Hawaii.
State officials had hoped that Paulson’s approval could come in time to launch the public input process by Statehood Day on Feb. 14.
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