Is there an Hawaian statute (cite it please) that says you gotsta have a seal?
Bark, Bark!!!
But, a person shouldn't necessarily expect to see this kind of textural details clearly in a scan of a document.
But this never slows Birthers down. Take the COLB, the scans showed no clear raised seal. “Ah-ha! Must be a forgery.” cried the Birthers The photos of the COLB clearly showed a seal. So the cry changed to either “Ah-ha! A different forgery.” or “We don't know what document that is.”
Regardless, if the seal was clearly visible in the scans, then Birthers would just smoothly segue on to their next conspiracy theory. Birthers are about emotionally pleasing fantasies, not facts or rational analysis.
HRS 338-13 say that certified copies SHALL be issued in compliance with HRS 338-16, 338-17, and 338-18
HRS 338-18 forbids disclosures except as allowed by the rules.
Chapter 11-1-2 “Rules of Practice and Procedure” specifically state that the HDOH seal is to be used on certificates. And “Public Health Regulations”, Chapter 8b (the current HDOH Administrative Rules) specifically states that the raised department seal must be stamped close to the certifying statement by the registrar.
So yes, there are Hawaii laws and rules that say there must be a raised seal.
Furthermore, the US Code says that the acts and records of a state are to be authenticated by a raised seal - which, if present, means the document must be given “full faith and credit” by other states.
I explain this in the post at http://butterdezillion.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/long-form-forgery-for-dummies/ .
If a certifying letter was all a person had to have, they could come up with any false information they wanted, paste it into a digital file so it looks like a birth certificate, and then claim that the letter certifies this other page. Unless the certification is on the exact page there is no way to know WHICH page of information the HDOH is actually certifying.
Sort of like what Obama did. The only thing claiming that the document Obama showed the public is what actually came from the HDOH... is Barack Obama himself. We have no way of knowing whether that’s the same document as the HDOH sent him.
And given the records manipulation of the HDOH, we wouldn’t know that what’s on the page is actually what is in the HDOH office either, even if the HDOH claimed it was.
I don't know if you got an answer to this, but yes, there's a statute. Someone has probably quoted it to you by now.