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EXHIBIT 31.1

SARBANES-OXLEY SECTION 302 CERTIFICATION
OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

I, Timothy L. Russell, Chief Executive Officer of Datakey, Inc., certify that:

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|1. |  | I have reviewed this report on Form 10-QSB of Datakey, Inc.;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
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|2. |  | Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which
such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period
covered by this report;
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|3. |  | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows
of the small business issuer as of, and for, the periods presented in
this report;        
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|4. |  | The small business issuers other certifying officer and I are
responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e))
for the small business issuer and have:                                                         

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| |  | (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the small
business issuer, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period
in which this report is being prepared;                                          
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| |  | (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the small business issuers
disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our
conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on
such evaluation; and                                                                                                                                     
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| |  | (c) Disclosed in this report any change in the small business issuers
internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
small business issuers most recent fiscal quarter (the small business
issuers fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that
has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect,
the small business issuers internal control over financial reporting;
and

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|5. |  | The small business issuers other certifying officer and I have
disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
financial reporting, to the small business issuers auditors and the
audit committee of the small business issuers board of directors (or
persons performing the equivalent functions):

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| |  | (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
reasonably likely to adversely affect the small business issuers
ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information;
and
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| |  | (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
other employees who have a significant role in the small business
issuers internal control over financial reporting.                                                                                               

Date: August 14, 2003

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|Signature: |  | /s/ Timothy L. RussellTimothy L. Russell
Chief Executive Officer