I use eTrade, and I contacted them a a couple of y

I use eTrade, and I contacted them a a couple of years go to ensure my shares weren't being loaned for shorting. I was told they pool shares from margin accounts, so there's no way for me to know if mine were loaned out as long as I keep them in a margin account (btw - this has no effect on the number of shares that I have available for voting). They told me the best way to prevent them from being available for shorting was to keep them in a cash account, which is what I now do. If I want to sell any, I just move them to my margin account so that I can have immediate access to the funds, but until then, they stay in my cash account and aren't available for lending. Some brokerages won't lend them without your permission, but I think they're more the exception than the rule.

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will be contacting my broker to make sure my shares are not loaned out because I want to vote them.

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My comments are just my opinions and should NOT be taken as investment advice.