The SEC recently issued a sweeping concept release as part of a comprehensive review of the infrastructure -- or “plumbing” -- of the U.S. proxy voting system. The SEC did not propose any specific rulemaking in the release, so no immediate response by public companies is necessary. However, the release highlights the SEC’s continued focus on the importance of shareholder voting rights and can be expected to lead to future rulemaking that will affect public companies, investors and the many securities intermediaries involved in the proxy voting process.