I believe that if you want to vote at a shareholders meeting,...

I believe that if you want to vote at a shareholders meeting, and you are unable to attend in person, then you must appoint someone ( a proxy) to vote on your behalf and that proxy must vote according to your instructions. If you do not give your proxy explicit instructions then they can vote however they wish. In a lot of cases shareholders merely appoint the Chairman as their proxy and allow him or her to vote as they wish.