“U.S. investor rights advocates are stepping up calls for reforms of corporate director elections, saying regulators should bar ‘legalized ballot-box stuffing’ by stock brokers who vote without instructions from their clients.” Reuters, Lifting the Lid: Activists Renew Calls For Barring Broker Votes

“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's failure to act on a broker-voting rule has 'disenfranchised' investors by triggering the re-election of two Washington Mutual Inc. directors, a group that advises union-pension funds said.” Bloomberg, SEC Inaction on Broker-Votes Affected WaMu Election, Group Says

“Union pension advisers, after achieving mixed results in their battle to oust directors at troubled thrift Washington Mutual Inc., are taking the next stage of their fight to the Securities and Exchange Commission.” Daily Deal, CtW Asks SEC To Rule On Broker Votes

“CtW Investment Group urged Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox to approve a proposal by the New York Stock Exchange to eliminate uninstructed broker votes in all director elections.” CNNMoney.com, CtW Investment Group Urges SEC To Eliminate Broker Votes

“In majority-vote elections, some directors have been re-elected by the margin provided by the uninstructed broker votes, prevailing over shareholders who would otherwise have had enough votes to defeat nominees, Mr. Patterson pointed out.” Pensions & Investments, SEC Asked To Stop Unguided Broker Voting

And on the blogs:

“Kudos to CtW Investment Group for bringing the issue of broker votes back to the forefront with their well-publicized letter to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox…It’s time for the SEC to recognize the 21st century demands of investors and give broker votes the death sentence.” Proxy Matters Blog, Death To Broker Votes

Posted by Anna Mumford on April 18, 2008 11:12 AM