Notaries are making news around the country.

Illinois

Television home remodeler Alison Victoria Gramenos has dropped a civil fraud lawsuit against an Oak Park notary she accused of forging her name on financial documents.

As part of the agreement, the notary, Adriana Rodriguez will not sign Gramenos’ name to any document or notarize any document with Gramenos’ purported signature for five years. Gramenos said she was engaged in a cooperative enterprise with the notary’s employer, who was not named.

According to attorneys involved in the lawsuit, the parties came to an amicable resolution and no liability was found.

Gramenos is the host of Windy City Rehab on HGTV.

Missouri

A Cole County judge rejected a motion that would have made mail-in voting easier for Missourians. A lawsuit wanted to let Missouri voters cast absentee ballots by mail without having a notary sign ballots before sending to the county clerk’s office.

The judge said mail-in ballots must be signed by a notary.

Pennsylvania

Some of the largest newspapers in the Commonwealth ran articles about the problems facing notaries and motor vehicle agents with getting license plates from PennDOT.

PennDOT was closed for a month and is now working to fill backorders for license plates.

Numerous notaries were quoted in the article, including three PAN members – Kim Stingle, John T. Yurconic, and Joy Graham.

North Carolina

Notaries in Burke County who wish to take their oath of office via video conferencing can schedule an appointment with the Register of Deeds office.

The video conferencing appointments will run through March 1, 2021. First time and reappointing notaries can choose between Zoom or Cisco WebEx. Proper identification will be required.

The state modified the statute to allow the Register of Deeds to administer the required oath to a notary appointee using video conference technology in April due to COVID-19.