EY reported 2017 proxy season shareholder proposal results through June 30th - both by total number of proposals voted and average vote support - for those topics where at least five proposals went to a vote:
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Top shareholder proposal topic by total number voted*
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Number voted
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Adopt/amend proxy access
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51
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Appoint independent board chair
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41
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Review/report on lobbying activities
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38
|
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Allow shareholders to call special meeting
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23
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Address human rights
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23
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Review/report on political spending
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23
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Review/report on climate related risks
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19
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Notably, as shown on the above and below excerpts, the only overlap among the top five proposal types voted and those that yielded the highest average vote support was proxy access - which led on frequency and ranked #5 on vote support.
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Top shareholder proposal topic by average vote support*
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Average support
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|
Eliminate supermajority vote
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74%
|
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Adopt majority vote to elect directors
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68%
|
|
Eliminate classified board
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64%
|
|
Allow shareholders to act by written consent
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45%
|
|
Adopt/amend proxy access
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44%
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Appointment of an independent board chair, which ranked #2 out of 16 total proposal types reported on (including a number of ties in the rankings) based on the number of proposals that went to a vote, ranked #9 out of ten on vote support.
See also our previous report: "2017 Shareholder Proposal Round-Up," and numerous additional resources on our Shareholder Proposals and 2017 Proxy Season topical pages.