SIGN THE PETITION: We Need to Talk About What's Really Going On

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Fellow Notaries,

I'm writing this post not as President of NJNA, but as one notary to another. And I need to be direct with you about something that's been weighing on me for months.

You've come to know me through my activism and the collosal amount of work it took to create NJNA. You know I've been doing this for over twenty years. You know I don't sound alarms lightly. So please hear me when I say this:

THE STATE IS FAILING US. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, THEY'RE FAILING THE PUBLIC.

WHAT I'VE FOUND: Over the past several months, I've been digging into how the state implemented the 2021 notary law, the one that promised six hours of education and a meaningful exam.

Here's what I found:

THE EDUCATION: The state's primary educational offering is a series of online videos. I timed them. All of them. 45 minutes and 7 seconds. That's it. That's what the State of New Jersey provides to satisfy a six hour mandate. We get 12.5 percent of what we were promised. And what's in those 45 minutes? Statutory definitions. Lists of requirements. Words read aloud from a screen. There's no practical instruction. No how to guidance. No scripts. No instruction on handling difficult situations.

THE EXAM: The law requires an examination "to determine the fitness" of applicants. That's the actual language. What did the state implement? An open book test. Online. No proctoring. No identity verification. No lockdown browser. And here's the part that kept me up at night: the full exam questions and answers are publicly available online. Anyone can find them. Anyone can pass without knowing a thing.

An applicant could:

Watch none of the videos
Read none of the manual
Find the answers online
Pass the exam
Receive a commission
Perform notarizations on real documents

The state would have no idea any of this happened.

THE MANUAL: The state will tell you the "real" education is in the Notary Public Manual. I reviewed it cover to cover. It's 26 pages. It contains no:

Fraud detection guidance
Scripts for oaths or refusals
Error correction procedures
Venue explanation
Credible witness procedure

It has sample certificates, and for that it deserves credit. But sample certificates without instruction are like giving someone a blank contract and calling them a lawyer.

THE RECORDS: I filed an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request. I asked for basic records any functioning program should have: approval standards, review procedures, communications with providers, a list of approved courses.

The state's response? One sentence:

"The Department of Revenue and Enterprise Services (DORES) does not have any specific records related to the review, evaluation, approval, denial, and oversight of New Jersey Notary Public education courses."

No records. None. Four years after the law passed, there is no evidence that any program ever existed.

THE ANNUAL REPORT: The law requires the Treasurer to publish an annual report on notary education by September 30 each year. It's not optional. It's a statutory command. As of today, no report for 2025 has been published. To my knowledge, no annual report has ever been issued.

WHY I'M TELLING YOU THIS: I'm not telling you this to depress you. I'm telling you because you are the proof that this matters. Every one of you has stories. Stories about situations where you wished you had better training. Stories about signers who were confused, pressured, or trying to pull something over on you. Stories about the gap between what the state gave you and what you needed to know.

Those stories are power. The state can ignore me. They have been doing it for months. But they cannot ignore commissioned notaries speaking with one voice.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1. SIGN THE PETITION

If you haven't signed yet, do it now. The petition lets you check off findings you agree with and, most importantly, share your own observations. This is where you come in. Your stories are what will make legislators pay attention. When they read that a notary from their district had to figure out how to spot a fake ID on their own because the state never taught them, that lands differently than any statistic I could provide.

2. READ THE FULL REPORT

I've documented everything. I've put together HUNDREDS of pages of specific details. Details that can not be ignored. The video transcripts, the manual analysis, the OPRA response, the exam compromise.

IT'S ALL THERE. READ IT. GET ANGRY. GET MOTIVATED.

3. SHARE WITH OTHER NOTARIES

You know other notaries. A facebook post regarding this topic was published today, 3/2/26. Tag them in the comments. Forward the post to your notary friends. Send them the link. We need every voice.

WHAT COMES NEXT

The petition will be open until 11:59 pm on March 15, 2026.

Once the signatures are gathered, I will personally ship them to the original bill sponsors, to the New Jersey Treasurer, and to the Notary Public Unit in Trenton. I will request meetings with every bill sponsor. I will make sure they understand that we are watching, we are organized, and we will not accept a facade in place of real education.

And, if I don't get the response that we so rightfully deserve, I'll be going to the press. I'll go to the talk shows, podcasters, the newspaper journalists, and the radio hosts. I'll talk to every local NJ news outlet.

Anything and everything that I can do to fix this problem, I assure you. I WILL DO IT.

PLEASE! SIGN THE PETITION

Let's make some noise.

— Patrick

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