So it’s not just shareholder meetings that have voting problems. The UK’s general election collapsed into the realms of farce this week with disenfranchised voters complaining of lost ballot cards, out of date voting registers and exclusion from polling stations – now where have we heard those complaints before?
So, why can we usher thousands of private shareholders into the big venues around the UK for packed AGMs but 15 hours just isn’t long enough for the residents of Sheffield Hallam to get their tick in the box? Maybe next time (and that could be as early as October) the combined forces of the ICSA Rgistrars Group should lay on a few training sessions on how to manage tricky voting situations.
It’s sometimes easy to take the behind the scenes work of proxy season for granted. But as the impact of dealing with frustrated franchisees begin to hit home on the wider voting public, perhaps we should say a collective “Thank You” for the efforts of the unseen ballot counters that during April and May quietly and effeciently move voting mountains on our behalf.