vanguard proxy voting

[wjquigs]

I received notification that Vanguard is holding proxy shareholder votes. Normally I just ignore this stuff, but I have a lot of assets with Vanguard, so I decided to participate.
I figure lots of Mustachians invest primarily with Vanguard, Fidelity, or other low-cost brokers, so I'm asking here: does anyone have any opinions about the votes on the ballot? I'm tempted to simply follow Vanguard's recommendations since I want them to just keep doing what they're already doing, but I'm checking here first.
Thanks!
Will

[the_grillman]

This is the first time I have received anything asking me to vote (relatively young account).  In my 5 minute skim I am not sure I really understood the issues so I am curious to see what people have to say.

[Silverado]

Some decent discussion over on Bogleheads about it. I'd link it, but i am lucky to get a post out from my iPad most days.

[seattlecyclone]

I voted against the proposal to allow for external fund management without a shareholder vote (Proposal 2). I understand that such a vote would be expensive and time-consuming to conduct, but it still seems like a prudent thing to have if my investments are suddenly going to be managed by a third party.

On the other hand, allowing management by a member of a Vanguard subsidiary seems just fine, so I voted in favor of that proposal (Proposal 3).

Proposals 4-6 all seem reasonable enough to me.

I voted in favor of the shareholder proposal regarding genocide. Vanguard, due to its sizable holdings of pretty much every company, could have a pretty large voice in corporate governance if it chose to use it. I'm not sure where I draw the line on where it's appropriate for a mutual fund manager to vote for changes in the companies it holds and where it's best to just let the companies do their thing, but if action is ever warranted I think genocide would be at the top of the list.

[wjquigs]

Thanks for your input. I agree with you, mostly, but I'm still on the fence about the genocide proposal. Obviously it would be great for Vanguard to exert positive influence due to its size, but at the same time, changing investments in response to *any* input means they're not index funds anymore. Also, Vanguard also offers socially responsible index funds. And VFTSX, for example, has outperformed VFINX for the past 5 years, although not since inception (evil is still profitable). I would prefer to see Vanguard promoting their socially responsible funds more, for example, making people who buy the standard index funds aware of the socially responsible corresponding funds. Or maybe lowering expense ratios so they're on par with the corresponding fund--right now they're typically a lot higher.

[seattlecyclone]

As I read the proposal it wasn't about simply dumping investments that are deemed immoral. Instead, Vanguard fund management is given discretion to try and work with the company's management to reform as a precursor to selling off shares. I think this could be much more effective at actually solving the problem than by investing in the "socially responsible" funds that simply wash their hands of owning the bad investments, giving people who are willing to profit from evil all the votes and the people who want to end evil have none.

[daggervg]

Hello Guys, I got a call from callerid +1 (1) 053637 asking my proxy vote. He asked me confirm by speaking my zip code. I know scammers can misuse such recorded phrases. So declined. A reply from Vanguard confirmed that Computershare (their affiliate tallying this proxy thingy) should have onlyone of the following four caller id: 888-963-5746 888-670-4738 888-916-1752 781-575-2000 Clearly the callerid I had is VERY FISHY.. I am since asking Vanguard to take the matter seriously and publicize this to all the customers to save some real possible trouble to the customers.... but Is Vanguard dropping the ball here?????

[Padonak]

Is proxy voting anonymous? I mean, if I vote, can anybody google my name and find out?