Most of the provisions can be viewed in a similar way. Almost every provision gives management a tool to resist different types of shareholder activism, such as calling special meetings, changing the firm's charter or bylaws, suing the directors, or just
replacing them all at once. There are two exceptions: Secret Ballots and Cumulative Voting. A Secret Ballot, also called "confidential voting" by some firms, designates a third party to count proxy votes and prevents management from observing how specific shareholders vote. Cumulative Voting allows shareholders to concentrate their directors' votes so that a large minority holder can ensure some board representation. (See Appendix 1 for fuller descriptions.) These two provisions are usually proposed by shareholders and opposed by management.