SEC Plans to Approve NYSE Rule to End Broker Voting of Customers' Shares

The Wall St. Journal reports that as early as next week the SEC will approve a NYSE Rule that will no longer permit brokers to exercise discretionary voting and vote customers' shares in uncontested elections.  If true, this will be a major victory for activist shareholders.  The proposed rule change has lanquished at the SEC for years; at one point, the SEC said they would take it up as part of a larger review of the shareholder proxy process, but that never happened.  In February the SEC finally put the rule change out for public comment..  SR-NYSE-2006-92.