The board of Southside Bancshares Inc. approved a bylaw amendment to require a majority vote, instead of a plurality vote, in uncontested director elections.

A majority vote requirement means director nominees must gather more votes "for" them than "against," with abstentions and broker non-votes not counting either way.

The change took effect Feb. 20.

Southside Bancshares is the Tyler, Texas-based holding company of Southside Bank, which had $6.49 billion in assets at the end of 2017.