Why South Dakota notary applications get rejected, and how to avoid it

The start of a new year is when many people decide to add a notary commission to a job, a side business or a real estate practice. South Dakota makes the entry requirements light: no exam, no required training course, no continuing education, and since July 1, 2025, no bond. What is left is one application, mailed to Pierre, and the Secretary of State's own checklist warns that an application is rejected if any required question is answered incorrectly or left blank. Here is where the avoidable problems are.

Problem one: a blank or incomplete answer

The form asks for your name as it appears on your seal, your physical residential address, your date of birth, your prior commission history and whether you have ever been convicted of a felony. Every one of those has to be answered. The felony question deserves a particular mention because it is a direct yes-or-no question and leaving it unanswered is, according to the office's checklist, enough to get the application rejected. Do not skip a line because you think it does not apply to you. If you have never held a commission, say so in the space provided.

Problem two: the wrong kind of address

You must be a South Dakota resident, or live in a county outside the state that borders South Dakota and work for a South Dakota employer at a South Dakota business address. The application asks for your physical residential address. A post office box, a business address alone, or a mailing address alone does not satisfy the residency requirement. If you receive mail somewhere other than where you live, the form needs the place where you live.

Problem three: a seal that does not meet the rules

You buy the seal yourself from an office-supply company, stationer or print shop, because the state does not sell or provide one. Before ordering, check that it will show:

• your name exactly as you intend to be commissioned and to sign;
• the words Notary Public and South Dakota;
• a full border around the imprint, which can be a circle, square or rectangle;
• the word Seal inside the border, if it is a rubber-stamp or electronic seal;
• no commission expiration date inside the border. If you include one at all, it goes outside.

There are no size or color requirements. The imprint on your application is the only seal you may use once commissioned, so a mistake here is more than a cosmetic one: adding or changing a seal later requires a Notary Change Form and the state's approval before you use it.

Problem four: a name that does not match

The name on the application must be the name on the seal, and the name you will sign. If you commonly sign with a middle initial, decide before you order the seal whether it is part of your commissioned name. Changing it later means going through the name-change process, covered on the renewals and changes page.

Problem five: sending a copy, or sending it incomplete

Mail the original application, signed, with the $30 filing fee, to the Secretary of State, 500 E Capitol Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501. Photocopies are not accepted. The oath must be signed before you submit it. Read the payment instructions on the current form and checklist before you seal the envelope, because they are the authoritative word on how the fee should be made out.

Problem six: acting as a notary too early

This is not a rejection, but it causes real trouble. You are not authorized to notarize anything until the Secretary of State issues and mails back your commission certificate. Mailing the form is not being commissioned. If you plan to offer remote online notarization, the application has a box for it, with space to name your tamper-evident notarization vendor, and the RON guide explains what comes after.

A two-minute checklist

1. Every question answered, including the felony question.
2. Physical residential address, not a P.O. box.
3. Seal with name, Notary Public, South Dakota, border and, if required, Seal.
4. Seal imprint clear and legible in the box.
5. Name on form matches the seal exactly.
6. Oath signed; original, not a copy; $30 fee enclosed.

The full process is on the main guide. Forms and procedures are updated by the Secretary of State from time to time, so work from the current version of the application, not an old download.