Illinois Notary Journal Requirements and Penalties

Illinois notary journal requirements apply to every commissioned notary in the state and cover what each entry must contain, how the journal must be built, how long you keep it, and what you must not write down. The rules live in 5 ILCS 312/3-107 and Title 14, Part 176 of the Illinois Administrative Code, and the Secretary of State treats compliance as a condition of holding your commission.¹

Who Has to Keep a Journal

If you hold an Illinois notary commission, you keep a journal. The statute draws no line between full-time and occasional notaries. You may use paper, electronic format, or both, and you may maintain more than one journal at a time. Every notarial act is recorded at the time it happens.²

Two narrow exceptions apply. A notary employed by an attorney or law firm does not need to keep a personal journal for notarizations performed during that employment, provided the attorney or firm keeps copies of the notarized documents; those records belong to the employer, and neither the attorney nor firm is required to breach attorney-client privilege to allow inspection. The exemption does not extend to banks, title companies, government agencies, or other employers.² The second exception covers notarizations performed by or on behalf of a candidate for public office involving nominating petitions, petitions of candidacy, nominating papers, or similar election filings.³

The journal is yours, not your employer’s. Even when your employer keeps its own log of notarizations, that does not relieve you of the personal duty to maintain a journal, unless the attorney or law firm exemption applies. When you leave a job, you take your journal with you. The statute prohibits surrendering it to an employer at the end of employment, and employers may not retain it.¹

What Each Entry Must Contain

Every journal entry is recorded at the time of notarization and must include at least the following:⁴

The name of the principal.
The name of each credible witness used to verify the principal’s identity, if any.
The name of any surrogate signer who signed on behalf of the principal.
The title or a description of the document notarized.
The date of the notarization.
Whether the act was performed in person, remotely, or electronically.
The fee charged, if any.
The physical location of you and the principal at the time of the act.

When you perform multiple notarizations for the same signer in a single transaction, later entries can be abbreviated after the first full entry, as long as the abbreviated entry notes the type of transaction and the number of documents notarized.⁵

What You Must Not Record

Illinois administrative rules prohibit certain data in the journal, and this is where notaries used to other states’ practices most often go wrong. Do not record any of the following:⁴

Driver’s license numbers, state ID numbers, or passport numbers from the identification presented by the principal.
Social Security numbers or other numbers that could identify the principal, particularly when combined with the person’s name.
Biometric identifiers such as fingerprints, voice prints, or retina images.
The electronic signature of the person for whom an electronic notarial act was performed, or of any witnesses.

Note the type of identification used, not the number on it. If a past entry contains prohibited information, redact it with a permanent marker or privacy stamp.

Paper Journal Format

A tangible journal must be built to prevent tampering. The cover and pages have to be bound by a method that prevents insertion, removal, or substitution of pages: glue, staples, or grommets qualify; tape, paper clips, and binder clips do not. Loose-leaf binders and spiral notebooks do not comply.⁶

Every page must be consecutively numbered with preprinted numbers, and every line or entry block on each page must also be preprinted with consecutive numbers. If an entry spans two pages, the pages may share the same page number or use consecutive numbers, but the line numbering stays consistent across both.⁶

Electronic Journal Format and Security

An electronic journal must be designed to prevent the insertion, removal, or substitution of any entry.⁵ Once a record is entered, neither the notary nor anyone else may delete it or alter its content or sequence. The only permitted change is redacting personally identifiable information as required by the administrative rules.²

The journal must be securely stored, recoverable after a hardware or software malfunction, and securely backed up by the notary and, if applicable, by the electronic notarization system provider.⁵ Personally identifiable information as defined in the code must be omitted, and entries must be available to the Secretary of State in PDF format upon request. For electronic notaries, the journal and any audio-video recordings must be stored on a device that protects against unauthorized access through password protection or a cryptographic process.⁷

Extra Rules for Remote Online Notarizations

If you notarize through audio-video communication, you must arrange for an audio-video recording of each remote notarial act and inform all participants that the session is being recorded before you begin.⁸

The recording must also capture how you verified identity. If you relied on personal knowledge, the recording must include your explanation of how you know the person and for how long. If you relied on a credible witness, the witness must appear before you, and the recording must include a statement about how the witness was identified and how the witness knows the signer.⁸

Recordings must be retained for at least seven years, whether or not the notarial act was actually completed. The same security, inspection, copying, and disposition rules that govern your journal also govern these recordings.⁸

Custody and Public Inspection

Your journal must remain within your exclusive control at all times, whether paper or electronic. That means storing it securely when not in use.⁶

Illinois allows public inspection of specific entries under controlled conditions. During your regular business hours, a person may inspect an entry if all of the following are met:⁹

The person’s identity is personally known to you or proven through satisfactory evidence.
The person signs a separate, dated entry in the journal.
The person specifies the month, year, type of document, and name of the principal for the entry sought.
You show only the specified entry or entries, not the whole journal.

You may deny access if you reasonably believe the person has a criminal or harmful intent. Subpoenas and investigative requests from law enforcement or the Secretary of State must be complied with as specified in the request. Failing to respond promptly to a legitimate information request can itself be grounds for disciplinary action.⁹

If Your Journal Is Lost, Stolen, or Compromised

The statute gives you 10 business days from the date of discovery to notify the Secretary of State that your journal has been lost, stolen, compromised, or destroyed.¹ The administrative rules set a tighter deadline: written or electronic notification by the next business day after discovery.¹⁰ Report as quickly as you can.

Your notification must include:¹⁰

Whether the journal was lost, compromised, destroyed, or stolen.
An explanation of how it happened.
The date you discovered the loss.
A statement that the journal has been destroyed or that you do not know who has it or where it is.
A commitment that, if you later recover the journal, you will file a written statement with the Secretary of State within 10 business days of recovery explaining how you got it back.

How Long to Keep the Journal

Your obligations do not end when your commission does. A paper journal must be retained for at least seven years after the final notarial act recorded in it. An electronic journal must be retained for at least seven years after the last electronic or remote notarial act recorded in it. Audio-video recordings from remote notarizations carry the same seven-year retention period.⁸

The journal is not surrendered to the state. You store it securely for the retention period. Keep your contact information current with the Secretary of State so you can receive any instructions regarding your records.

Penalties for Noncompliance

Illinois treats journal violations as part of the broader category of official misconduct. A notary who knowingly and willfully commits official misconduct faces a Class A misdemeanor, which carries potential jail time and fines. A notary who acts recklessly or negligently faces a Class B misdemeanor.¹¹

Beyond criminal exposure, the Secretary of State has broad administrative authority. After investigation, the Secretary may issue a warning letter, suspend your commission for a designated period, revoke your commission entirely, or refer the matter to the State’s Attorney or Attorney General for criminal investigation.¹² If your commission is revoked for a violation of the Notary Public Act, you cannot apply for a new commission for at least five years from the date of final revocation. Inadequate responses to a legitimate journal inspection request are also flagged in the rules as grounds for discipline.⁹

1
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 5 ILCS 312/3-107 – Journal
2
Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 14, 176.900 – Journal Requirements
3
Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 14, 176.980 – Revocation, Suspension, and Sanctions
4
Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 14, 176.910 – Journal Entries and Prohibited Entries
5
Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 14, 176.930 – Form and Content of an Electronic Notarial Journal
6
Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 14, 176.920 – Form and Content of Journals Maintained on a Tangible Medium
7
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Title 14, Part 176 – 176.960 Retention and Backup Requirements
8
Illinois Secretary of State. Illinois Notary Public Handbook
9
Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 14, 176.950 – Inspection of a Journal
10
Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 14, 176.940 – Custody and Control of the Journal and Notification of a Lost, Compromised, Destroyed, or Stolen Journal
11
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 5 ILCS 312/7-105 – Official Misconduct
12
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 5 ILCS 312/7-108 – Reprimand, Suspension, and Revocation