Notary Public Act: Powers, Duties, and Commissioning Requirements
Who may act
Arkansas notaries are commissioned by the Secretary of State under the Notary Public Act (Ark. Code Ann. Title 21, chapter 14), which was substantially rewritten when Arkansas adopted the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts. A candidate should be able to state the core qualifications - at least 18 years old, U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, an Arkansas resident (or a nonresident with a qualifying Arkansas business connection under current rules), and free of disqualifying criminal history - and the core powers: administering oaths and affirmations, taking acknowledgments, witnessing or attesting signatures, and performing other notarial acts on tangible and electronic records.
The limits are the exam
Authority is personal and statewide: your commission travels with you anywhere in Arkansas but nowhere outside it, and it cannot be delegated to a coworker, an assistant, or an employer. An act performed before the effective date or after the expiration date of the commission is void even if everything else about the certificate is perfect. Notaries are also not compelled to act; you may decline a request, and you must decline if the signer is not present, cannot be identified, appears incompetent, or is being coerced.
Trap to expect
Questions love to hide the fact that a notary "notarized" a document for someone who was not in the room, or dated the certificate for a day other than the day of the appearance. The certificate speaks only to what the notary personally observed.
Rule of thumb
Run the four-question gate before every act: Is my commission active today? Is the signer physically present and willing? Can I identify them by satisfactory evidence? Is this an act Arkansas authorizes me to perform? Any "no" means stop.