But how does a company get around the problem of only 70% of shareholders voting? I'm sure that happens, quite often in fact. It's really not that much different than a presidential election. Just under 57% of the voting-aged population voted in 2008, meaning only 28.51% of the population had to vote for Obama to get him elected (obviously assuming the electoral college voted proportionately the same). Apathy is an issue in this country. Although it may not just be that, it may also be a time issue as well. I don't have kids but I do have a girlfriend that I spend a lot of time with, and I've barely had time to quick-read the VTSI proxy. I imagine a lot of shareholders with families have even less time than I do to read the proxies for the companies in each of their investments. I'm not making excuses, I'm just saying I can easily see how it can happen. I do understand your voting issue and agree that it's not ideal that 1/3 of the O/S could pass something, but unfortunately that just seems to be the way things go.
I think there's two ways people can think- they'll be in the minority in those proxy cases, or they'll be in the majority. Everybody wants to protect themselves in case they're ever in the minority. But the truth is, a majority of the time you'll be in the majority. What if there's a proxy vote on hiring an auditing firm and less than 50% of the voters see it or care to vote on it? I know those of us actually active in the company will want it passed. I guess I'm just a glass half-full kind of person and I tend to look at positive things that may come as a result of management decisions, or that management will make good decisions in the first place.
Disclosure- I haven't voted on any item in the proxy yet either. I'm also waiting to gather more information.
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