Protecting the world, one stamp at a time
We caught a cheap flight to the national notary convention to answer three questions: Who are these people? What are they so worried about? And what does it look like when they let it all hang out?
“The days of stamps and seals are over,” said National Notary Association Legislative Manager Jonathan Tee, from the NNA offices, in Chatsworth, Calif., recently.
It may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but the country is indeed now on its way to digital notarization. And while you may or may not find this development exciting or very important, the NNA definitely does and hopes that digital notarization will usher in “a new era of secure e-commerce and e-mortgages.” On Feb. 2, in fact, the NNA and the Pennsylvania Department of State are throwing a party in Philadelphia celebrating “The Historic Launch of Phase 1 Electronic Notarization in Pennsylvania” — Pennsylvania being the first state in the nation to launch such a program.
Other states are not far behind. “North Carolina just enacted their own e-notary laws,” said Tee, “And California is going to be introducing a bill to do the same thing next session.”
One of the NNA’s major initiatives has been to establish e-notarization uniformity nationwide. “You have to have the correct statutes in place so that you can set up the proper systems,” said NNA communications manager Audrey O’Kelley, who points out that the NNA is aided in this by a close relationship with the National Association of Secretaries of State. “That’s what all the states are doing now — Penn is just ahead of the curve.”
The same components as pen-and-paper notarization will apply — personal appearance, identification, acknowledgment by the signer, etc. — but, obviously, the document will be electronic and the signature will be generated digitally, and protected by encryption technology.
“The other thing you need to be able to do is authenticate the notary who’s attaching the seal,” said Tee, “and the electronic notary registry that Pennsylvania is putting together with the NNA will do that.”
As usual, the National Notary Association is mild-mannered about the changes it has helped bring to fruition. “We’ve been working behind the scenes for quite some time,” says O’Kelley.