The decision was based on recommendations from the Hawai'i Commemorative Quarter Advisory Commission, which met earlier in the day to review the results of a public on-line poll conducted earlier this month, a news release said.

Taking into consideration the results of the poll, the commission submitted three recommended designs to Lingle, who made her final selection.

The design chosen also received the highest number of votes (7,262 or 28 percent of all votes received) from the public.

The final design depicts the King Kamehameha I statue on the right side of the coin, with his hand stretching toward the eight main Hawaiian islands.

The state motto, "Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono," (The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness) is on the lower left side of the coin.

At the top of the coin are the words "Hawai'i" and the year "1959," when Hawai'i was admitted to the Union. "E Pluribus Unum" (Out of the many, one) is at the bottom.

The design will be submitted to the U.S. Mint. Hawai'i's Commemorative Quarter is scheduled to be released in fall 2008 and will be produced for 10 weeks.

As part of the selection process, the commission invited the public to vote for their favorite design in an online poll, which drew 26,396 votes over a two-week period this month.

The results were as follows:

Hawai'i, The Island State (design No. 4) — 7,262 votes, 28 percent

Hawai'i – Diverse But Unified (design No. 5) — 6,238 votes, 24 percent

Aloha Spirit (design No. 2) — 5,180 votes, 20 percent

Diamond Head (design No. 3) — 4,183 votes, 16 percent