Greg Gershuny
Vice President and Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Energy and Environment Program and co-director of Aspen Ideas: Climate. Previously served as chief of staff for energy policy at the U.S. Department of Energy and in energy, environment, science, and technology policy roles in the Obama White House.
Weak Voting Protections Keep American Election Law on the Battlefield
At the Aspen Ideas Festival, election-law scholars and political practitioners argued that the immediate danger for 2026 is less a miscounted Election Day than a close election whose count is challenged, delayed or delegitimized afterward. Rick Hasen, Benjamin Ginsberg, Sarah Isgur and Janai Nelson largely trusted local administrators to count ballots, but split over what makes elections legitimate: administrative competence, equal access to the franchise, limits on federal and judicial power, stronger parties, or a constitutional right to vote.
The Aspen Institute Frames Leadership as Dialogue Across Difference
In a 75th-anniversary institutional statement, the Aspen Institute presents leadership as a discipline of listening, convening and acting across difference. Its executives argue that progress begins with people: dialogue builds common ground and trust, and that trust can be turned toward work on economic opportunity, energy and climate challenges, institutions and rising generations. President and chief executive Dan Porterfield closes the case as an invitation to “ignite human potential” and create new possibilities for a better world.