At an open meeting held today, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 2 to 1 to propose amendments to the proxy rules relating to the use of universal proxy cards and require provision of additional voting options and disclosure regarding voting standards in director elections. Under current proxy rules, in a contested election two separate proxy cards are used to vote, one card for management’s slate of directors and a separate card for the investor candidate’s slate, so voters voting via proxy must choose one or the other. An investor voting in a contested election must attend the shareholder meeting in person if he or she wants to vote for individual directors from each slate. A universal proxy card or ballot would eliminate this discrepancy between the options available via proxy versus in person by allowing a shareholder not attending the meeting to be able to pick candidates from both management and investor slates.