From: don-aitken@freeuk.com 
  
 On 11 Sep 2004 01:19:07 GMT, Woodchuck Bill  
 wrote: 
  
 >Penny Gaines  wrote in 
 >news:7vn912-2i7.ln1@gaines.plus.com: 
 > 
 >>>>>   2) Registered via notarized letter 
 >>>>>   3) Has voted before 
 >>>>>   4) Has posted before 
 >>>> 
 >>>> You forgot criteria number 5: 
 >>>> 
 >>>> 5) Hasn't changed email address since doing any of those things. 
 >>> 
 >>> There's always #2 for someone who can't bear to miss a vote. 
 >> 
 >> Yeah, well, how much do notarised letters cost in your part of the 
 >> world? 
 >> 
 >> I just poked around the net to find out how much it would cost in the 
 >> UK to get a notarised letter.  It seems the standard minimum fee (for 
 >> a ten minute appointment) is €60 (thats 60 pounds sterling).  At 
 >> today's exchange rates that's over $100US.  (Actually, it is over 
 >> $100, whatever type of dollars you use.) 
 > 
 >My local notary changes 2 dollars per document. That is actually about the 
 >going rate in much of the USA. You can walk into most insurance angencies, 
 >real estate or travel agencies, and many other types of small businesses 
 >without an appointment and be out the door in a few minutes. 
  
 The difference is because the whole idea is, literally, foreign to the 
 UK. We don't have notaries (I'm not sure why not - most European 
 countries do) so the only people who could do it are lawyers, who 
 charge the sort of fees that lawyers charge. The only time any UK 
 resident ever needs a notarised document is for use abroad. 
  
 -- 
 Don Aitken 
  
 Mail to the addresses given in the headers is no longer being 
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