People don't buy votes they buy attention. :)
Living in the world of technology, every-one-of-us in this one big village call Internet. And as regular people you don't get notice by anyone, accept your friends and family.
Then come the social media problem, and anti-social people. They want attention. They will pay for that kind of attention, because they give them please that they are notice in the village call Internet. Get satisfied your Ego, and you will be calm and happy.
That is a bigger picture, this is just a regular situation on every social media. I know, that Steemit is not typical social media platform, but is acting like it, more and more every day.