Shareholders need real voice, US SEC chief says

NEW YORK Nov 4 (Reuters) - The top U.S. securities regulator on Wednesday called on corporate America to upgrade its proxy voting practices to ensure shareholders a greater voice in governing the companies they own.

"It is imperative that our proxy voting process work," Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro told a conference of the Practising Law Institute in New York.

Schapiro vowed to give shareholders an easier and cheaper way to nominate corporate directors and said her agency was eyeing the mechanics for shareholder voting.

"The failure to reform the shareholder voting process in the past has, in my view, affected company and board responsiveness to shareholder concerns," Schapiro said. (Reporting by Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Neil Stempleman)