[browardchad]

I have to tell you that this surprises me. Why would a state leave its official documents up to the whim of its local offices? How can a state prove authenticity of a document when it can't certify that the format of the document is correct?

Hawaii birth, marriage and death certificates are issued through only one office: The State Dept. of Health in Honolulu. There are no "local offices" where you can obtain them. I suppose it's possible that in the past the other islands issued their own certs, but Honolulu has never had more than one centralized state office.

The "changes" you refer to are changes made by the state in its forms through the years, not by "the whim of local offices." If you look at the various certificates -- originals and COLBs from the '60's and '70s that have been posted on the internet, they all indicate "Dept. of Health, State of Hawaii," (rather than city or county) and if the image posted has an official signature, it's always that of a state official.

[Political Junkie Too]

I suppose it's possible that in the past the other islands issued their own certs, but Honolulu has never had more than one centralized state office. The "changes" you refer to are changes made by the state in its forms through the years, not by "the whim of local offices."

Sure, but I was replying to a response from curiosity, not trying to state fact. (S)he made the claim that there were no standards between "some offices" in post 199, and I was playing back that line of reasoning to rebut the claim.

-PJ