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Securities Technology Monitor, December 3, 2010 article

 

Voting by Phone, in Corporate Elections

December 3, 2010
Tom Steinert-Threlkeld

Maybe the app will be renamed iVote.

Companies who want to encourage shareholders to vote on corporate resolutions publicized in proxy statements can do so next year, by allowing them to cast votes on their iPads, iPhones, Blackberries, Android or other smart handheld devices.

Broadridge Financial Solutions said that it will make its ProxyVote.com software available early next year on mobile data devices such as smartphones and tablets.

The software is already available for use on personal computers. The move to mobile devices is "to improve and encourage more shareholder voting and enhanced shareholder communications,” said Joseph Vicari, Vice President, Business Strategy and Development, Broadridge

Twenty million proxy votes were recorded through ProxyVote.com for the 12 months ending June 2010. ProxyVote offers street name and registered shareowners, as well as 401(k), ESOP and ESPP participants, the convenience of voting their shares on the Internet, including by air.

Shareowners who register for electronic delivery of proxy materials are notified via e-mail, before votes are to be cast.

According to Broadridge, e-mail delivery of proxy materials has nearly tripled in four years, from 27 million deliveries in 2006 to almost 78 million deliveries in 2010.

Broadridge operates infrastructure that underpins proxy services for 90 percent of public companies and mutual funds in North America.

 

©2010 Securities Technology Monitor and SourceMedia, Inc.

 

 

 

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