Governor Donald L. Carcieri and Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis were honored today with a national award for their work establishing the state’s first, official Standards of Conduct for the state’s 21,000 notaries public.

The National Notary Association (NNA) presented Carieri and Mollis with its 2009 Calvin Coolidge Award, which honors the nation’s best new program for improving the professionalism and effectiveness of notaries public.

“Governor Carcieri and Secretary Mollis are each to be commended for their commitment to the office of the notary public in the state of Rhode Island,” said Larisa B. Gurnick, the NNA’s CEO. “Their leadership serves as an example to other states that the notary public office plays a critical role in the preservation of the public trust.”

“Serving as a Notary Public comes with significant responsibility to uphold public trust. This is a great first step to provide Notaries Public with best practices that protect both the Notary Public and members of the general public,” said Governor Carcieri, who established the Standards of Conduct by Executive Order in April 2009. “Through a collaborative effort between my office and the Secretary of State, we are better served to protect the public against identity theft and fraud.”

Signature and seal are required to authenticate the signatures on many legal documents including mortgages among other common business documents.

“The new guidelines are a collection of 'best practices' that educate consumers and enhance the reputation of Rhode Island’s outstanding notaries public,” said Secretary of State Mollis. Among the recommendations:

• Notarize only when the person whose signature is being notarized is present and presents satisfactory evidence of his or her identity.
• Use a seal that includes the notary’s name exactly as it appears on his or her commission when notarizing documents.
• including a description of the document.
• Refrain from influencing a person to enter into or avoid a transaction, except in cases when the act may be unlawful.

The NNA — a national trade organization representing 300,000 notaries — named the Coolidge Award in honor of the thirtieth president of the United States.

Then-Vice President Coolidge was visiting his parents in Vermont on Aug. 3,1923, when news came that President Warren G. Harding had died. Coolidge’s father administered the oath of office in his role as a notary public. Coolidge is the only president to have been sworn in by his father.

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