Okay, this one blew our minds.
Amelia Powers Gardner went from engineering heavy machinery to spearheading some of the most interesting blockchain, digital identity, AI, and GovTech initiatives we’ve seen in local government.
And this isn’t some tiny test market.
Gardner is a Commissioner in Utah County, where the government serves just shy of one million people. As one of only three commissioners, she serves in both an executive and legislative capacity, with the county’s IT department under her portfolio.
Her focus?
“How does government use this technology to make citizens’ lives easier? And how do we use it to make things better, faster, cheaper?”
First Came the Blockchain Marriage Certificate
While serving as Utah County Clerk/Auditor, Gardner spearheaded a system that allowed people to obtain a marriage license completely online, using remote identity verification similar to the KYC process used in crypto.
The county then used what Gardner describes as a “blockchain seal” to create a verifiable digital credential for the marriage certificate.
The beta launched in October 2019 and went fully live in January 2020.
Then COVID happened.
Government offices closed around the world, leaving some couples unable to obtain marriage licenses.
Gardner had a pretty straightforward reaction:
“Why is the government telling me I can’t get married?”
Utah County began making its system available to couples around the world. Gardner explains that under Utah law, the officiant must be in Utah, but the people getting married can be elsewhere and participate through Zoom, Google Meet, or another platform.
And that’s where this gets wild.
One woman was eight months pregnant in Texas while her fiancé was stuck in London during COVID. Because they weren’t married, he was unable to enter the United States.
Utah County married them remotely and issued the marriage certificate. Gardner even fielded a call from the Department of Homeland Security asking whether it was valid.
It was.
Her fiancé was able to enter the country in time for the birth of their child.
Yeah. Blockchain-backed marriage credentials suddenly got very real.
Then Came Citizen-Owned Digital ID
The marriage project snowballed into something much bigger: digital identity.
Gardner is now helping spearhead Utah’s work around a state-endorsed digital ID designed to be decentralized and owned by the citizen while retaining the rights and privileges associated with identification such as a Utah driver’s license.
And privacy is a major part of it.
“Utah cannot have reciprocity with another state’s ID if that ID tracks the citizens.”
Gardner says Utah has helped create a 13-state consortium, with discussions underway with additional states, to advance a model for digital ID that is convenient and secure while preserving privacy.
Making Government “Suck Less”
For all the talk about blockchain, digital IDs, AI, verifiable credentials, and digital government, Gardner’s motivation is wonderfully straightforward.
When other government officials questioned why she wanted to reinvent a marriage-license process people had been using for generations, her response was:
“What’s the problem? And I was like, because it sucks.”
And then:
“It was more just my passion for making government suck less.”
She’s got some pretty compelling results.
Gardner says another county process requiring four wet-ink signatures took an average of about 10 days. After moving to digital signing, they got it down to around three hours.
Utah County has also established an AI task force, employee AI training, an AI-use policy, technology pilots, and an innovation fund designed to help departments implement new technologies. The idea is to create a system where innovation continues even after Gardner leaves office.
From Utah to the UN
Gardner’s second term ends in December, but she’s not walking away from digital government.
She plans to continue working across government and industry, helping governments adopt emerging technologies and helping technology companies understand how to actually implement their ideas in the public sector.
And she’s taking the conversation beyond Utah.
Gardner told us she’s headed to Washington for the Government Blockchain Association conference and plans to speak about Utah’s digital identity work during a forum day at the United Nations General Assembly.
Her bigger vision is where this gets really interesting.
For someone living in a rural area, obtaining a government document can mean traveling half a day just to reach an office.
Gardner asks us to imagine something different:
“Can you imagine if those people could do it with a cell phone?”
That’s the bigger story here.
Digital IDs. Blockchain-backed marriage certificates. Verifiable credentials. Remote identity verification. AI. Digital government.
Not technology for technology’s sake.
Technology that might actually make people’s lives easier.
And we’re here for it.
🎧 Tune in to SheCrypto’s conversation with Amelia Powers Gardner about digital IDs, blockchain marriage certificates, online marriage licenses, verifiable credentials, privacy, AI, and the future of digital government.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome00:44 From heavy machinery to blockchain02:20 The first fully online marriage license03:00 Utah’s citizen-owned digital ID03:47 How anyone in the world can marry from Utah04:37 COVID, Homeland Security, and a Zoom wedding06:57 Why government innovates so slowly07:39 The most boring campaign ever08:14 Ten days to three hours11:36 The privacy law and the 13-state consortium13:07 Building innovation that outlives you16:37 Washington, the UN, and what comes next
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