Press
2025
October 2025Get Ready for the Pass-Through Revolution
A quiet revolution is unfolding in the worlds of proxy voting, corporate governance and investor communications. So-called ‘pass-through’ voting programs, rolled out by large asset managers, are bringing millions of new participants into the proxy-voting ecosystem and creating entirely new cohorts of retail shareholders at publicly listed companies.
On October 21, Vanguard made a major announcement in this process with the addition of three funds – including its flagship S&P 500 ETF (VOO), the world’s largest ETF – to the list of participating funds in its pass-through voting program next year (which it calls Investor Choice). With this expansion, 20 million of Vanguard’s 50 million clients will be eligible to participate in its pass-through voting program in the 2026 season.