Not according to this person who contacted the Hawaii State Department of Health:
*snip*
"We received confirmation from the Hawaii State Department of Health (HSDH) that:
1. Certified copies of birth certificates are NEVER sent electronically. Copies can be requested by qualified individuals in person, by mail, or on line; and the Vital Records (VR) office will MAIL the Certification of Live Birth within 4 to 6 weeks.
2. Certifications of Live Birth will ALWAYS include an embossed seal.
3. The Vital Records office will NEVER black out the certification number.
-snip-
Observations/Questions:
1. Both documents reference the same form, indicated in the lower left corner: “OHSM 1.1 (Rev. 11/01) LASER,” likely meaning that this form was revised in Nov. 2001 for use with laser printers, AND therefore that both of these certifications theoretically would have been produced by the VR office in Nov. 2001 or later.
2. In the lower left section, Decosta’s document says “Date Accepted By State Registrar” and Obama’s says “Date Filed By Registrar.” If they were both produced on the same form, why is the language different?
3. Decosta’s “Certificate No.” in the upper right region is shown; Obama’s is blacked out with a clean-edged block. When was this done, by whom, and why would a birth certificate number be a secret? Again, this is never done by the HSDH.
4. Decosta’s shows an embossed seal in the lower center region; Obama’s has no embossed seal. Again, HSDH says certifications never leave the office without one.
5. Decosta’s shows a stamp with signature in the lower left region; Obama’s does not. Again, standard procedure?
6. Obama’s “father’s race” is shown as “African,” which many readers find odd given that it’s not descriptive for race. What was the term used on birth certificates in Hawaii in 1961 for an African American? "
*end snip*
Me: Still, I guess it is a genuine document that bypassed usual procedures.
You: Not according to this person who contacted the Hawaii State Department of Health:
When I say “genuine” I mean a document created by someone in the Hawaii Dept. of Health, not some photo-shop pastiche made elsewhere. I agree it appears to be without the certification impression and signature block.
African American came after Black and Black came after African and African came after Negro.
Perhaps the original certificates used different languages, and the certified copies duplicate whatever was on the originals?
Obama's doc seems fishy, but certain things don't make sense. No normal type of JPEG artifacting would explain the fade-out of the background near the text, but if someone were altering a real printed cert I can't figure why it wouldn't have the proper signatures, folds, and other such markings. Curious.