5.3 Journal and Record-Keeping Requirements

When a Journal Is Required

Like the stamp rule, Maine's journal requirement splits by medium, and the exam tests the split directly.

The Secretary of State's wording is precise: "A journal is not required for in-person paper notarizations. However, the Secretary of State strongly suggests that you maintain a journal for all notarial acts," while "a notarial officer MUST maintain a journal for all electronic and remote notarizations."

Why Keep a Journal Even When Optional

The journal is the notary's primary evidence that an act was performed correctly. If a signature is later challenged as a forgery or the signer claims they were coerced, a contemporaneous entry — showing who appeared, what identification was checked, and when — is the notary's best defense and reduces personal liability. It is also a memory aid years after the fact when a notary may be subpoenaed to testify.

Scenario: Three years later, an heir disputes a notarized deed.
With a journal: entry shows the signer presented a ME driver's
  license, appeared in person, and acknowledged freely → strong defense.
Without a journal: the notary relies on memory alone → weak position.

What Each Journal Entry Must Contain

For every electronic and remote act (and for any paper act a prudent notary chooses to log), the entry should capture:

Sample Entry

One act, one entry. Each time the stamp is applied or an act is performed, a separate chronological entry is made. Entries are written contemporaneously, in ink that cannot easily be erased, and never backdated.

Journal Format Rules

A notary may keep separate journals for electronic/RON acts and for paper acts, but each must meet its format rules. Loose-leaf or unbound paper logs do not satisfy the permanence requirement.

Remote Online Notarization Recordings

RON adds a recording duty on top of the journal. The notary must make and keep an audio-visual recording of the entire remote session — the live two-way communication in which the signer appears and is identified.

Death, Incapacity, and Transfer

The journal does not belong to the employer and is never simply discarded. On the notary's death or adjudicated incapacity, the personal representative, guardian, or any person in possession must transmit the journal to the Secretary of State or an approved repository. While active, the notary must safeguard the journal under sole control, just like the stamp.

Exam Traps

• Saying a journal is required for in-person paper acts — it is recommended, not mandatory.
• Forgetting the 10-year retention runs from the last act recorded, not the date of each act.
• Omitting the RON audio-visual recording, which is a separate, additional requirement.
• Believing the journal goes to the employer or family on death — it goes to the Secretary of State or an approved repository.

Tampering, Loss, and Inspection

The journal is a controlled record, and the exam may test what happens when it is compromised. If a journal — or for electronic records the device or account holding it — is lost or stolen, the notary must notify the Secretary of State promptly, just as with a lost stamp, and should notify law enforcement if theft is suspected. Entries may never be erased, whited out, or backdated; a correction is made by drawing a single line through the error so the original remains legible, then writing the correction nearby. Destroying or falsifying entries is misconduct that can lead to commission revocation.

Because a single journal can contain many signers' personal details, the notary balances producing requested entries with protecting the privacy of unrelated entries — you disclose the relevant act, not the entire register, to a casual requester.