Majority Voting 2021. Proxy proposals provide powerful tools to hold corporations accountable. YourStake.org is an online petition platform for financial advisors. The combined savings of many citizens make up the majority of investment into big companies. Companies already respond to big investors. Now they will respond to you if you let them know your concerns. Find a financial advisor working with the YourStake.org platform. Ask your financial advisor to sign onto our petitions and to vote your proxies in favor of establishing Majority Vote standards for unopposed directors.
CorpGov.net has posted a number of petitions, which we would like your financial advisor to sign! Please help ensure we have more democratic corporate governance. In this cluster of petitions, we address how corporate directors should be elected. Currently, at most companies outside the S&P 500, unopposed directors can be elected with a single vote.
For example, 99.9% of shares are voted against a director. If no one has sent out a separate proxy for a competing candidate, one vote in favor is all an unopposed candidate needs to win. Those who fail to gain majority shareholder support in annual elections, yet continue to serve are referred to as zombie directors. Why should we as shareholders allow candidates opposed by the majority of shareholder votes to represent us on the Board? Require directors to get a majority vote to win an election. Sign the petitions to let each company know you want them to change.
Zombies on Boards Sap the Life Out of Companies
- Fifty-four “zombie directors” currently haunt the boardrooms of 32 U.S. companies — continuing to serve in 2020 despite having failed to win support by a clear majority of shareholders.
- Dissatisfaction with CEO pay was highly correlated to a majority of these companies.
- Plurality-based voting standards enabled most of these directors to serve, but majority voting requirements without binding resignation policies were also sometimes involved, allowing boards to override shareholder votes.
Majority Voting 2021 Petitions
- Alarm.com (ALRM)
- Assembly Biosciences (ASMB)
- Axon Enterprise Inc (AAXN)
- Beyond Meat (BYND)
- Iovance (IOVA)
- Orthofix (OFIX)
- PRA Health Sciences (PRAH)
- Redfin (RDFN)
- Syneos (SYNH)
- Tandem (TNDM)
- Teladoc (TDOC)
- Travelzoo (TZOO)
- Veracyte (VCYT)
- Workday (WDAY)
Majority Voting 2021 Rationale
Below are links to some articles explaining further why a majority voting requirement to elect directors is important for good corporate governance.
- Majority Voting for Directors
- Does Majority Voting Improve Board Accountability?
- Study of Majority Voting in Director Elections
- Does Majority Voting Improve Board Accountability?
- Zombies on Board: Investors Face the Walking Dead
As an investor, you can help make the companies you invest in more accountable and more profitable. Take an active role by supporting a majority voting requirements at all companies. Our petitions at YourStake.org will help you and your financial advisor get started.
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