4.3 Unacceptable Identification

Documents Connecticut Specifically Excludes

The Connecticut Notary Public Manual names two documents that may never be used to identify a signer, regardless of how genuine they appear:

The logic is consistent: an ID that cannot connect a face to the name cannot verify that the person in front of you is the person named. A Social Security card proves a number was issued; it does not prove the holder is the subject. The same flaw sinks the birth certificate, which any relative or stranger could obtain a certified copy of.

High-frequency trap: "The signer has a passport but it expired last month, and offers a Social Security card to make two documents." Both items fail, the passport for being expired and the card for being categorically excluded, so you have zero qualifying documents and must decline or use a credible witness.

Municipal ID Cards as Primary

Municipal identification cards, such as the Elm City Resident Card issued by New Haven or similar cards from other towns, cannot serve as a primary ID. The reason is structural, not about quality:

• They are issued by a city or town, not by a federal or state government.
• The satisfactory-evidence standard requires the photo-bearing document to be federal or state issued.

A municipal card may still carry a signature and could, in principle, function as the secondary document, but it cannot anchor the pair as the primary photo ID.

Expired Documents

There is no grace period. A license that expired yesterday is unacceptable today. Build a habit of reading the expiration date first, before the name or photo, so an expired document never slips through.

Copies, Scans, and Digital Images

The signer must physically hand you the original. A clear, in-focus photocopy is still a copy and is barred. A phone photo, however convincing, cannot be authenticated for tampering and is not an original.

Altered or Suspicious Documents

Decline any document that is otherwise the right type but looks wrong. Refuse to accept identification that:

• Appears altered, re-laminated, or tampered with
• Shows information inconsistent with the signer (height, age, or photo that does not match)
• Has an obscured, smudged, or missing photo or signature
• Displays mismatched fonts or a re-typed data block

Best practice: When in doubt, do not proceed. A refused notarization costs the signer a return trip; an accepted fraud can cost you your commission, a civil judgment, and criminal exposure. The asymmetry always favors caution.

The Unifying Principle Behind Every Exclusion

If you understand one idea, you can answer almost any unacceptable-ID question without memorizing lists: an acceptable primary document must link a face to a name through a federal or state government record. Every excluded item fails that test in a specific way. The Social Security card fails because it has no face and no government photo. The birth certificate fails for the same reason and because anyone can obtain a certified copy. The municipal ID fails because it is not federal or state issued, even though it may have a photo. The expired license fails because the government record it relied on is no longer current.

The photocopy fails because it cannot be authenticated as genuine. Trace any candidate document back to that face-to-name-via-government test and the answer becomes obvious.

Walking Through the Classic Trap Questions

• Social Security card plus credit card: Two items, but the Social Security card is categorically barred, so you effectively have one signed item and no government photo ID. Decline or use a credible witness.
• License expired three days ago, photo matches perfectly: A perfect photo match does not cure expiration. There is no grace period in Connecticut. The document is unacceptable.
• Emailed scan of a passport: A scan is not an original, and identity cannot be established from an image. Even setting aside personal-appearance rules, the document itself fails the original requirement.
• New Haven Elm City Resident Card alone: A municipal card cannot anchor the pair as primary because it is not state or federal issued, and there is no second document. Decline.

Why Connecticut Singles Out These Items

The excluded documents are not arbitrary; each one is historically tied to identity fraud. Social Security cards are issued in childhood, carry no photo, and circulate widely in paperwork, making them trivial to misuse. Birth certificates can be ordered by mail for many people other than the named individual. Municipal cards were created for civic-access purposes, such as library or city-service use, not for high-stakes identity verification, and their issuance controls vary from town to town. Connecticut keeps them out of the primary tier to protect the integrity of the notarial act.

Your Default When Documents Fail

When the documents in front of you do not qualify, you have exactly two lawful paths: establish identity through the credible witness method (covered in 4.4) or decline the notarization. You never round weak evidence up into a passing grade, and you never accept an excluded document because the signer insists it is all they have. Politely explain what Connecticut requires, suggest the signer return with qualifying documents or a credible witness, and document your refusal if you keep a journal. A declined act protects everyone, most of all you.