Even though such votes are nonbinding, majority-vote bylaws are expected to have a major impact on the nation's evolving standards of corporate governance.

That's because these provisions can empower institutional investors planning "just vote no" campaigns in 2010 to pressure corporations--including many big banks at the center of the financial crisis--to dump directors. Companies that have majority-vote bylaws in place, the thinking goes, will have a harder time explaining why they didn't listen to their shareholders when they vote "no."

"We're thinking long and hard about identifying failed directors in 2010," said Michael Garland, a director at Change to Win Investment Group, a labor-backed advisor to union funds.

Last year, roughly 100 directors at companies that don't have majority-vote bylaws didn't lose their jobs even though more than 50% of voting shares opposed their renomination.

Durkin says his proposals at Vornado and Equity Residential are likely to achieve strong shareholder support, in large part, because a majority last year backed majority-vote proposals at those corporations, and the companies have yet to implement the nonbinding resolutions.

However, most large and midsized corporations typically will adopt the measure after receiving significant pressure to do so by investors. A Vornado spokeswoman acknowledged that the company didn't set up a majority-vote bylaw even though a majority of participating investors voted in 2009 for just such an action.

Equity Residential officials didn't return calls seeking comment.

Corporations are gradually buying into majority-vote bylaws--mostly as a result of pressure from shareholders. According to RiskMetrics Group, which advises investors on governance issues, 59% of S&P 500 corporations had adopted majority-vote standards as of 2009, up from 52% in 2008.

Only 31% of RiskMetrics' S&P 1500 measure of 1500 large and midsized U.S. corporations had done so in 2009, up from 27% in 2008.

At the same time, the number of majority-vote shareholder proposals peaked in 2009, with 104 measures filed at companies, up from 86 in 2008, with strong support (in 2009 the proposals received an average of 58% support, while in 2008, 51% of investors backed the measures). As of March 15, only 23 have been filed so far, for 2010 Riskmetrics reports.