Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. BR, launched a newly upgraded ProxyVote site, which improves the shareholder communication and proxy voting experience for individual shareholders. Read the press release below, then my commentary. “ProxyVote.com has long been a key technology in the corporate governance process,” said Broadridge Investor Communications Solutions President Robert Schifellite. “Since its launch more than 17 years ago, usage has grown tremendously […]
Tag Archives | blank votes
Corporate Elections: Looking in the Wrong Places
James McRitchie, 06/24/2013 ,
Bartlett Naylor, Financial Policy Reform Advocate, and Taylor Lincoln, Research Director, both with Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division, wrote an excellent post recently, Looking for Conflict in All the Wrong Places. They criticize the the Congressional hearing entitled “Examining the Market Power and Impact of Proxy Advisory Firms.” Instead of proxy advisors, Congress should be looking […]
CII Sticks Up For Retail Investors on Blank Votes, Phony VIF Ballot Titles & Biased Vote Reporting
James McRitchie, 05/21/2013 ,
Has the Council of Institutional Investors (CII) turned over a new leaf or am I only beginning to notice because they recently came out publicly agreeing with me? Three years ago a group of us petitioned the SEC to clarify that the same rules that apply to proxies also apply to voter information forms, VIFs. […]
Broken Windows & Proxy Vote Rigging – Both Invite More Serious Crime
James McRitchie, 01/30/2013 ,
Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference discusses the “Broken Window theory. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and a sense of anarchy will spread. In […]
SEC's IAC Seeks Input for Agenda
James McRitchie, 09/19/2012 ,
The Dodd-Frank Act established the Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) to advise the Securities and Exchange Commission on regulatory priorities, the regulation of securities products, trading strategies, fee structures, the effectiveness of disclosure, and on initiatives to protect investor interests and to promote investor confidence and the integrity of the securities marketplace. The IAC met for […]
If I Were on the SEC's Investor Advisory Committee: Recommendations to Help Retail Investors
James McRitchie, 06/19/2012 ,
The new SEC Investor Advisory Committee (SECIAC) met for the first time last week. It appears there may be agreement by Committee members to first concentrate their efforts on retail investors. At least that was the message of several Committee members and the expressed wish of Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar. The SECIAC would do well to recommend […]
Proxy Access Win at Nabors (NBR)
James McRitchie, 06/06/2012 ,
As Joann Lublin reported in the WSJ, Nabors Owners Back Proxy Access Resolution. Shareowners finally won a proxy access proposal! As far as I’m concerned, the proposal is weak (3% stake held for 3 years) but it is a win none-the-less. (more…)
ProxyVote.com Encourages Zombie Voting
James McRitchie, 05/31/2012 ,
Proxyvote.com encourages voting by retail shareholders by allowing them to, with one click, set all votes “for” a corporate board’s recommendations, from electing directors and approving executive pay to adopting anti-takeover defenses. Are they just facilitating voting by a group, “whose participation in corporate elections has been in decline of late,” as Broadridge claims, or […]
SEC Names Investor Advisory Committee
James McRitchie, 04/10/2012 ,
The Securities and Exchange Commission finally announced the formation of its new Investor Advisory Committee required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. (more…)
Blanks Votes: Australia & US
James McRitchie, 09/18/2011 ,
It is great to see Manifest, the proxy voting agency, raising the issue of management voting proxy items left blank by shareowners. In the majority of markets with developed shareholder voting procedures, for each proposal, the shareholder has three choices; to vote for, against or abstain. Alternatively, shareholders can actively elect for the chairman to […]
Shareholder Democracy Summit Coming to Toronto: Blank Vote Issue
James McRitchie, 09/17/2011 ,
The Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries announces the Shareholder Democracy Summit ─ a Canadian first. CSCS has invited key stakeholders to gather this coming fall on October 24 and 25 in Toronto for an important national summit on shareholder democracy. CSCS President Lynn Beauregard announced today that invitations to register for the Shareholder Democracy Summit […]
Don't Let Them Get Away With Stealing Elections
James McRitchie, 04/26/2011 ,
Glyn Holton’s How To Steal a Corporate Election informs us of recent outrages on how elections are tipped in favor of entrenched managers and boards. If you’ve taken the time to read his post, I urge you to take another five minutes to help remedy the situation. To address the situation at American Tower Corporation […]
How I Voted at Hain, Cisco & Accuray
James McRitchie, 11/17/2010 ,
I waited too long to vote on the MoxyVote.com platform. However, even waiting until the day before the meeting, I was still only able to get minimal advice. I hearty thanks goes out to CalSTRS and their cooperation with ProxyDemocracy.org. At least they had announced votes for Hain and Accuray as I cast my votes […]
Don't Miss Opportunity to Level Playing Field in Corporate Elections
James McRitchie, 10/19/2010 ,
As many of you know, I petitioned the SEC last year to change the rule that allows blanks on a partially filled proxy or voter instruction forms (VIFs) to go to management and have also complained to the SEC about Broadridge’s failure to impartially identify proxy proposals on VIFs (see Investors Against Genocide Fighting American […]
Dodd-Frank and Proxy Plumbing Offer Opportunity to Keep Blank Votes from Going to Management
James McRitchie, 10/11/2010 ,
As many of you know, I petitioned the SEC last year to change the rule that allows blanks on a partially filled proxy or voter instruction forms (VIFs) to go to management. (see 4-583 at http://www.sec.gov/rules/petitions.shtml) The way I read Dodd-Frank SEC.957, it appears to prohibit broker voting for say on pay, directors and “any […]
Open eMail to NYSE Re Blank Votes
James McRitchie, 08/30/2010 ,
Janet Kissane, SVP & Corporate Secretary NYSE Euronext Legal & Government Affairs Dear Ms. Kissane: Earlier this month the NYSE announced it intends to amend NYSE Rule 452 to prohibit members from voting uninstructed shares if the matter to be voted on relates to executive compensation, including “say-on-pay” proposals, at meetings occurring after July 21, 2010. An exception will be […]
An Open Proposal for Client Directed Voting
James McRitchie, 07/14/2010 ,
According to the SEC, “client directed voting” will be included in a forthcoming concept release on “proxy plumbing” issues and SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro now indicates review by the Commission is forthcoming (see this post on the Forum). It is critical that shareowners become familiar with this term. The SEC can shape their concept […]
"Corrected" Ballot at Altrea Tips Votes to Management
James McRitchie, 04/12/2010 ,
The latest development in the case of unfair ballots favoring management at Altrea is that Broadridge has now “corrected” the language on their voter information form (VIF) for the shareowner proposal to eliminate supermajority voting requirements. However, the “correction” fails to accurately portray the proposal at all, and simply places yet another hurdle in the […]
David vs Goliath
James McRitchie, 02/18/2010 ,
The 2-15-10 court brief from Apache includes the following statement: “When it comes to shareholder proposals, Apache is the ‘David’ and Chevedden is the ‘Goliath.’ ” That seems strange to me coming from a company with a $33 billion market cap. I know John Chevedden and he is no Warren Buffet, when it comes to […]
Support Petition to Keep Blank Votes Blank
James McRitchie, 05/20/2009 ,
This morning, the SEC held a hearing on proxy access. By a three to two vote, Commissioners voted for proxy access. Democracy in corporate governance will dramatically improve with our right to nominate and elect directors, even if limited to 25% of the board. Directors may actually begin to feel dependent on the will of […]