I dunno. You tell me. Irrelevant and immaterial!
What makes you think the AP copied that? What scanner did they use?
I dunno. Why don't you ask J. Scott Applewhite?
And the seal is the authenticating mark. You don’t just blow off the seal. That is the equivalent of the purple ink on the finger of the Afghanistani women showing they voted. A physical mark that counts for something.
Seals, like documents, can be forged. Purple ink can be washed off.
Federal law says that the way the acts and records of one state are recognized as genuine so they have to be honored according to the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution is by a raised seal.
Only if the seal is genuine. If a seal is questioned, the proper recourse is to go back to the alleged applier of the seal. Seal forensics is a waste of time.
But if there’s no seal it CAN’T be genuine. That’s the point.