Study Indicates a Trend Towards Majority Voting in Director Elections.

This February, Neal, Gerber and Eisenberg, LLP released an update to their February 2006 study on majority voting in director elections. Their new findings, authored by Claudia Allen, show a sharp increase in the percentage of companies that have adopted majority vote policy in director elections. When the report was first published the percentage of companies who had adopted such polices, in the S & P 500, were fewer then 20%. Currently that rate has increased to 52%. Additionally, the study shows a trend in the number of companies that are adopting binding majority vote bylaws, a move away from the non-binding polices adopted as early as a year ago. The debate, the study suggests, seems to be moving away from whether the majority voting policy makes for sound business judgment, to if and how will shareholders utilize this trend for their benefit. This study may be found on the DU Corporate Governance  website.