The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Monday announced several measures designed to increase investor participation in corporate elections.

To SEC said that, in an effort to support shareholder participation in corporate elections and help educate investors about how the voting process works, it has: amended its’ proxy rules to clarify and provide additional flexibility when companies and others are relying on rules allowing shareholders to be notified about voting materials, rather than requiring that they receive them; published a new investor alert detailing recent changes to broker voting rules and the impact of those new rules on proxy voting; and launched a new Web page that provides investors with information on the mechanics of proxy voting, the e-proxy rules, corporate elections and proxy matters generally.

The changes to the broker voting rules took place last year, as the commission approved a change to the New York Stock Exchange rule that allowed brokers the discretion to vote shares held in customer accounts in an uncontested election without receiving voting instructions from those customers. Now, brokers can only vote those shares in elections at companies if they are instructed by their customers, it notes. “The recent changes to the voting rules for the election of directors have increased the importance of voter participation,” said SEC chairman, Mary Schapiro.

“The right to vote in corporate elections is a key investor right,” said Lori Schock, director of the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy. “We designed these new resources to help investors better understand the materials they will receive in connection with annual meetings of shareholders and how to vote by proxy in corporate elections.”

IE