The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved Tesla's issuer voluntary retail voting program, allowing companies to offer investors automatic proxy votes aligned with management recommendations. Investors would retain existing voting methods and could change their selections. The initiative, modeled on an arrangement created by Exxon Mobil last year, aims to raise retail participation from around 30% toward the 77% rate among institutional investors. Tesla said the program could reduce the cost of soliciting retail votes and noted that it spent more than $2 million seeking individual-investor support at its two most recent annual meetings, including for Elon Musk's compensation package. Tiffany Posil, an official in the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance, indicated the approval also applies to other companies seeking similar arrangements. Shareholder advocates, including private investor James McRitchie, said the arrangement could weaken their ability to advance resolutions on issues such as climate protection and executive pay.