Well, I’ve done about half a dozen electronic signings now. I’m journaling the same way I would for print signings. But somehow that doesn’t seem quite right. Anyone else have suggestions or experience?
Judi - you’re in Washington state, right? This from the Washington NP Manual Page 12-13 https://www.dol.wa.gov/business/notary/docs/notary-handbook.pdf
“The second major limitation has already been discussed, which is the journal requirement.
The journal requirement is the same for electronic notarial acts as it is for all other notarial acts: each
notarial act must be recorded in your journal. As stated above, a notary’s physical journal must
contain records of all notarial acts, including electronic notarial acts. Electronic notarial software
may create an electronic journal as a duplicate, but even then, you must record the act in your physical
journal.”
So since the signers still need to be physically present with you…I’d continue to use a paper journal.
Your information is correct, Linda. I already journal to Washington State standards - I journaled long before Washington State required journals at all. What I’m asking, I suppose, is for suggestions how to differentiate electronic transactions from print, quickly, in my journal.
Make a note in red? a capital “E” in a circle? With your electronic ID number? I’m lazy that way so the quicker reference method, for me, the better. Not to mention something I have to recognize myself in the future! LOL
I never thought you didn’t do it Judi - hope you didn’t take it that way.
I haven’t been asked to do any electronic notarizations. How I would journal an electronic trainsaction in my paper journal would depend on the technology I am using. If the result of the notarization was a file, I would use the CertUtil command, which is built into Windows 10 and is used on the command line. If my file were on the C drive in the TEMP folder, and it was named sample.txt I would issue this command:
CertUtil -hashfile C:\TEMP\sample.txt MD5
The result would be something like
f6819d08ca28e75e17d0167493a6f16a
I would print that on a sheet of paper, cut it out, and tape it in my journal. If anyone ever made even the tiniest change to the file, such as changing a comma to a period, the result whent the CertUtil command was done on the allegedly identical file would be completely different. So I would know the file had been changed after it left my hands.
Thanks, Linda - I hadn’t intended to seem prickly, but reading over my previous response… well, that could have been a cactus patch!
A red E is not a bad idea. I’m considering keeping a second journal for electronic acts. Washington requires that a Notary Public keep a journal, but not that a Notary can only use one at a time.
Oh, EXCELLENT suggestion!