South Dakota's remote online notarization law doesn't work the way a fifty-state notary roundup usually describes it. RON here runs under its own statute, SDCL 18-1-11.2 through 18-1-11.8, separate from the older video-witnessed process the state has allowed since 2019 (SDCL 18-1-11.1) — and the two have genuinely different rules, not just a different name. A fully electronic RON act requires two separate methods of identity proofing where video-witnessed notarization needs only “personal knowledge” for reasonable certainty, a tamper-evident platform the notary picks from no state-approved list, and a ten-year audio-visual recording requirement the older process doesn't impose at all. That distinction, and the statute numbers behind it, are worked through in full on this site's remote online notarization page — because getting it right took reading SDCL Chapter 18-1 itself, not copying a generic all-states notary checklist. This page is about who did that reading, and how.
One person, no institutional backing
One independent person researches, writes and keeps this site current — there is no editorial staff, no call center, and no office behind it. That single-author setup is also why the site can say plainly what it isn't: not the South Dakota Secretary of State's office, not any other government agency, and not a law firm, notary training provider, or notary association. The full disclaimer spells out each of those distinctions individually rather than as one blanket statement. Ads served through Google AdSense pay for hosting and for the time spent tracking changes like HB 1133, HB 1192 and SB 211; that's the entire business model, and no figure, link or platform named anywhere on this site is a paid placement.
Where a figure has to trace back to before it's published
Every number here — the $30 filing fee, a fee cap that House Bill 1192 removed, the six-year commission term, the ten-year RON recording-retention period — is meant to trace to a specific page or PDF published by the South Dakota Secretary of State, a specific section of the South Dakota Codified Laws, or a bill on the South Dakota Legislature's own site. Each page ends with a Sources list naming and linking the exact document a figure came from, so it can be checked directly instead of taken on faith. Where the state's own material is silent about something — whether a notary may charge a separate travel fee, for instance, which SDCL 18-1-9 and the Secretary of State's handbook simply don't address — the fees page says so instead of guessing at an answer that merely sounds plausible.
This is a static, hand-updated site, not a live feed from the Secretary of State's systems. A page is only as current as the review date shown near its title and in the footer. Before relying on a figure for something that matters — a filing deadline, whether a bond is required, what a notarization can cost — verify it against the official source linked on that page.
What this site is not trying to be
This site can't accept a notary application, issue a commission, take a filing fee, or look up anyone's commission status — nothing here substitutes for the Secretary of State's own systems, and it doesn't pretend to. What it does instead is put the handful of facts someone actually needs — this year's filing fee, whether a bond is still required, exactly what South Dakota's RON statute demands versus the older video-witnessed process — on one plain page apiece, with the government document behind each figure one click away. The Secretary of State's own site remains the authority; this one exists to save a trip through it for a specific question.
Report a wrong figure
If something on this site is wrong, out of date, or unclear, say so through the Contact page. A report of an incorrect figure, a moved government link, or a law that's changed since a page was last reviewed is the most useful thing a reader can send, and it gets checked against the official source before anything is corrected.