Wine drinking Notary incident happened quite a while ago ~ appox. 2019. Found him on WA Notary search and Google search, Approx. 10 years older than me at the time and I’m now 76 years old as of September. Probably not in business any more. 2021 my last contact person saved WA Notary Department named below. We conversed quite a bit and he seemed informed regarding Notary laws. Sharing contact person here for all WA Notaries. Since after 2020 Covid closures, hopefully, he is still there and they have not closed his department.
Jordan Reynolds
Customer Service Specialist II
Notaries/Uniform Commercial Code {UCC) Program Washington State Department of Licensing
Office: 360-664-1550
(no email)
By the way, I write letters to Govenor’s office with complaints regarding departments. He does not get back to me but makes sure staff member points me in right direction.
Carmen I use your same reference materials. Sharing received this information in US mail January 2025 though publish date is 2018 WA Notary Handbook:
“A notary can accept any identifying document that is either current, or expired for less than three years. As an example, a notary confirming an individual’s identity on January 1, 2019, could use a driver’s license that is current or that expired anytime from January 2, 2016 through December 31, 2018. Also note that there is nothing requiring these documents to be from any specific jurisdiction; a signer could use an Oregon driver’s license or a Canadian passport, as long as it is not more than three years expired.”
I have Jordan’s contact email from a few years ago (jreynolds@dol.wa.gov), but not certain he is still there. Unless we are replying to a recent email, it’s better to use the generic “notaries@dol.wa.gov” address which will be seen by the whole notary team.
I don’t think they closed the notary department per se – I probably could have worded that better. I think they combined departments so there is cross coverage.
I finally have an answer and an update. I followed the advice of the SOS and called the district attorney’s office for my county. She tells me that the district attorney does not have authority over the county clerk of court and cannot take a complaint nor give me any assistance with the clerk. She does give me a couple names and a phone number for the clerk of court for the criminal court division. He was gracious and done some research for me through their systems and determined that indeed the identification was a valid form of ID. But here is the thing, he goes on to tell me that because the county clerk of court is an elected official, she has no supervision and reports to nobody. He said she can effectively do whatever she wants as long as it is not criminal. If she doesn’t want to give guidance, direction, or answer your question, she doesn’t have to and there is nothing that you can do about it. It really makes it difficult when the person responsible for the rules and procedures for notaries can tell you to go figure it out for yourself, but then that same person will be the one to fine you for not following the same rules and procedures that she won’t disclose to you. Makes this job harder than it has to be.
If your not happy with an elected official, the obvious solution is to run for that office yourself.
@takenotenotaryservices Absolutely frustrating. 
In a perfect world, this wouldn’t have been the end result of all your hard work & efforts.
One of the benefits of following this circuitous route is that you’ve pursued each & every lead to its endpoint. You’ve ‘achieved’ the definitive ‘answer’ to this query (even though it may not originate from an official source).
Simultaneously, this ‘exploration’ has divulged data & information that will be beneficial to you in the future & save you much time and frustration at a later juncture.
Also, the Notary Cafe members who are in your State (TN) will benefit directly from all you’ve shared as well. 
At this point, I presume the key to your success would be to memorize the Notarial Handbook for your State and follow it to the letter.
Any scenarios (like this one) that are outside the scope of the Handbook will remain “to be determined” as each one arises in the future.
I’d also follow the sagacious insights provided by Bobby-CA as excerpted below:
This ‘Operating Manual’ will be your Guide as well as your ‘backup’ in the event that something goes sideways . . .
That doesn’t bring oversight and accountability to that office. That is a governmental, structural defect that has to be resolved by the State government. No elected official should be autonomous in the execution of their duties.
My daughter doesn’t drive so she has always had a state issued picture ID in more than one state which has always been accepted as to obtain it you have to present the same IDs to the issuing office as someone with an DL your birth certificate and your social security card and proof of residence. She got a passport in the same fashion. I’m not sure why anyone would deem it unacceptable. Some people don’t drive. You’re not going to notarize things for them because they don’t drive?
As I mentioned in the original post, this was not a “typical” state issued id. This id card is not available to the general public and as I have found out since then, is an acceptable form of identification even though it is not listed in the notary handbook. A general state id card is listed and acceptable. This was not listed, so I wasn’t clear as to if it could be accepted. That is why I called the county clerk’s office for clarification since that falls under her purview. Unfortunately, she refused to answer and it took me three more days and several calls to the SOS, local district attorney’s office and the criminal clerk of courts office to find someone willing to check on it and call me back. The main point of my post was that as notary’s we are kind of put on an island if the office that has authority over notaries, regulations and processes refuses to answer a question that the SOS says was not a “legal” question and should have been answered. Through my research, however I found out that she doesn’t have to answer that question or any that she doesn’t want to, because she is an elected official with no oversight unless her actions were deemed criminal. That came directly from the criminal court office. Her office runs autonomously, and can do as they please as long as they don’t cross the line into criminal actions.
I have performed many signings where seniors only have stated issued IDs and no longer drive. When I get my little electric trike to run around town in at this time they also don’t require drivers licenses ~ but who knows that could change.
In our current political atmosphere, running for office is not always the solution. In another life would have been a lawyer and lobbyist ~ hidden powers. With my activist background would never make it as a politician. 
When in doubt, toss it out. The notary is the first line of defense in fraud. If you cannot get clear guidance on the acceptability of an ID then you are better erring on the side of safety and refusing to notarize.
Correct, which is what I did. The point is the local clerk of court should have and could have easily answered the question, since that falls under her job description, which would have allowed the notarization to go forward since it ended up being an acceptable id. This client was adversly affected and I lost revenue, because she refused to answer the question and it took me three days and several phone calls to find someone who knew the answer.
Thank you for the update. I was wondering how this turned out.
@takenotenotaryservices Appreciated your thorough previous update (provided yesterday) 
Admire your tenacity & professionalism! Excellent Research! 
Section 2 and 3 on page 9 of your handbook clearly state what you can and can’t accept.
Furthermore I don’t see how saying what the actual “ID” was would identify a client. If it meets the element in the handbook you can use it.
Again, it was not in the handbook, but ended up being acceptable, so the handbook is not perfect, and things change after the book is printed. I ask the clerk of court because the client was instant that he was told he could use it for any where an id was needed. Turns out he was right, and the handbook was wrong. I didn’t say it would identify the client. I said the client found me on this site so I will not say what type of ID he had.
Reasonable reliance on the presentation to the officer of any one of the following, if the document is current or has been issued within five years:
(A) An identification card or driver license issued by the Tennessee Department of
Safety; or
(B) A passport issued by the United States Department of State.
- Reasonable reliance on the presentation of any one of the following, if the document is current or has been issued within five years, contains a photograph and description of the person named on it, is signed by the person, bears a serial or other identifying number, and, in the event that the document is a passport, has been stamped by the United States immigration and naturalization service:
(A) A passport issued by a foreign government;
(B) A driver’s license issued by a state other than Tennessee;
(C) An identification card issued by a state other than Tennessee; or
(D) An identification card issued by any branch of the armed forces of the United
States.
Not sure how much more clear it can get?
I don’t know how much more clear I can be. This id was not available to the general public and was not a standard id. I didn’t feel as though it meet the requirement and only called to apease the client. The issuing agency is not one I have ever seen a identidiication card from before and again wasn’t a standard identification. It took three days to find and a court officer in the criminal courts to find the legal bulletin that was sent out to the courts sanctioning the use of this id. This was not a normal by the book situation.
Not being available to the general public has no bearing on what section 3 says. Did it meet those elements or not?