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Recently, there was an article put out by the American Association of Notaries entitled "Why are Notary Journal Entires Important?". It talks about the use of journal entries that some notaries are required to do and some are recommended to do. Whether it is required all depends on the laws in the state in which you are a notary. 

In my opinion, these entries are not only important but vital and should be mandatory. The article writer mentions that she takes out her journal as the first thing she does when notarizing a document for a signer. It reminds her the steps to take and what is required by her state to do a notary as those things are notated in her journal entry. 

In California where I am a notary, a journal is a requirement. I also use it to remind me of what is needed, when to get the information and to make sure all is correct with the signer and the signers ID. There is one signer for whom I have done several notaries. Even though we are friendly with each other having worked together so many times, I am always ask for his ID and get a thumbprint for the journal entry. I get a thumbprint even though it is not required by law since it is another method of making sure I have gotten the same person's signature each time I have notarized a document for him. It protects him and me in the notarization process. I can't imagine why any state doesn't require journal entries to be made for each notarization. It's part of the process I use to protect against fraud and to make sure that the process is done correctly each and every time. 

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In an earlier post, I talked about how Notaries identify signers. You can read that post here. This year, there have been some changes to what forms of ID can be used by Notaries to identify signers of documents. The forms of ID now acceptable to use are:

1 Identification card or driver’s license from State of California;

2 US Passport;

3 An ID card or driver’s license from another state or by a an Canadian or Mexican public agency authorized to issue Drivers Licenses;

4 An employee id card issued by an agency or office of the State of California or an agency or office of a city, county, or city and county in California;

(And new this year, a Notary can use)

5. A tribal identification card from a federally recognized tribal government;

6. A consular identification card and a foreign passport without further qualification;

7. Any form of ID issued by a sheriff's department that is current or has been issued in the past 5 years for a prisoner in custody in a county jail or local detention facility.

If the signer does not have one of the above IDs that is valid, there still is a way they can be identified for purposes of a notarization. It's called using a Credible Witness. A signer's identity can be verified by a single Credible Witness that the notary public personally knows or by two Credible WItnesses who are not personally known to the notary public. In both of the Credible Witness situations, the notary needs to be able to identify by ID the Credible Witness(es) using the IDs listed above. No matter what, someone, the Credible Witness(es) or the signer him/herself, must have a valid ID. NO EXCEPTIONS!

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Recently the National Notary Association published another model notary act, this one dealing with electronic notarizations. It's called the Model Electronic Notarization Act of 2017 referred to as MENA. A very good article about this Act has appeared on page 10 of The National Notary Magazine put out by the NNA.

While I haven't read the Act in it's entirety I believe that this article is a very good introduction to the new act and explains the basics of it. What I hope happens is that Notaries Public read the article and the Act in order to learn what is coming in the future. 

In regards to electronic notarizations, I am skeptical of moving towards using this technology to do notarizations. What I am most concerned about is the lack of personal physical appearance when a notarization is being done. I recently wrote a blog post on Personal Appearance and its importance to the notarization process. 

With electronic notarizations (where the client is not physically present but communicating via audio-visual means), I believe that there is a possibility for improper identification. One method for identification in this situation is where the client answers questions which only the client is supposed to know the answer. This is a fair way to identify someone but there are drawbacks. The answers to those questions may possibly be found online from postings, messages, or picture information posted on social media. A lot of personal information is being shared these days online. Very good authentication needs to be done. There is also the issue of the quality of the audio-visual connection. 

I do believe that we need to move with the times and incorporate new technologies into the work that Notaries Public do. I think notarization of electronic documents might be a first step. I have worked with electronic signatures and I do believe that the are valid in a court of law. There already is a way for a notary to "stamp" a document with an electronic notary stamp. I might explore that as a new avenue of notarizations that I might do. The new MENA put out by the National Notary Association is a good first step but we need to go slowly so that we don't lose sight of why notarizations are done, which is fraud prevention and validation of signature.