The EOS project uses new approaches which make it different from the other blockchain platforms. More than that, at times, EOS utilizes the approaches opposite to ones used by other platforms in order to reach the very same goals successfully! For example, instead of the huge amount of nodes, the EOS blockchain is processed only by 21 block producers (the idea is that on EOS it's much harder to become and stay block producer than on other platforms where most nodes end up under the control of a relatively small amount of mining pools which makes the level of decentralization quite low). Another vivid example is the approach to anonymity. While other platforms are doing best to conceal the identity of the actors, EOS is governed by the public block producers whose transparency wakes responsibility and motivates for doing the job well. Block producers are elected by the EOS community members via staking the tokens. One of the unique options of the voting process on EOS is proxy voting.
Definition
Proxy voting means that the voting power of one person can be delegated to someone else willingly. On the EOS platform proxies are the voters that use the voting power provided by other users. All the info about the votes can be audited as the entire EOS ecosystem is fully transparent. Users don't have to trust anything because there's absolutely no need to share any keys or other data with the proxy accounts in order to delegate the voting power. Moreover, this power can be revoked immediately if needed.
Is Proxy Voting Important?
There are token holders that don't want to vote (we are not going to discuss the reasons here). These tokens won't be staked in vain if they are used by the proxy accounts eager to participate in the voting activity. It increases the level of oversight while voting. Many of token holders just don't have enough time to keep their eyes on each new initiative on the platform and vote for it. The proxy voting feature creates a kind of an institution of voters. What's important is that proxies should discuss the way they will be making voting decisions with the owner of the voting power. If the owner sees that the votes were made inappropriately the proxy voter might be deprived of the delegated power.
The EOS community votes for something every few minutes. It makes voting activity demanding and very important. Proxy voters (we assume that most of them work as it supposed) make it way easier for token holders to use their voting power without losing their time for being totally engaged in the community's problems.
The changes in the ecosystem emerge faster as proxy voters react with the votes on every new initiative. This wouldn't happen if only a small amount of enthusiasts were gatekeeping the ecosystem. The apathetic community would fail a victim to an active group of voters but the proxy accounts are here to prevent such attempts.
Proxies form the voting blocs which represent the groups of interests on the EOS platform. It makes t easier to analyze the current trends.
Different Types Of Proxy Voters
Different people have different reasons to do the same thing. The voting is not an exclusion. There are ideological proxies (who want to support the ecosystem and help improving it via voting), block producer proxies (the proxy accounts created by block producer candidates in order to vote for them and their partners; the users that do not know many block producers can delegate their voting power to these BPs so they will be able to support their partners using this power), DApp/enterprise/investor proxies (they are used by the EOS developers or investors who have a really huge interest in the outcome of each voting; these accounts are run by those who support these enterprises, developers, and investors), and finally the exchange proxies (created for the EOS community members holding their tokens on the exchanges. The exchanges store the tokens in the cold wallets, but the proxies stake the proper amounts of tokens to make these tokens work for the ecosystem).
Conclusion
The proxy voting system is an efficient measure of letting the ecosystem stay in tune and develop quickly. In some sense, this option makes it possible to use all the voting power without burdening every member of the community, but every member full control the owned voting power, and the proxies are accountable. This solution is really brilliant.