The percentages are a good way to guesstimate how each is doing in the poll compared to the others. For example, say we randomly assign Damon Salvatore 600 votes (which seems reasonable given that he's new to the scene). With him currently at 1.31% of the total vote, that would mean that the entire poll might have elicited 45,802 total votes so far. And from that number we'd see that the top six in the poll (so as to include Barnabas) would break down as:
1) Spike 29.57% 13544
2) Eric 23% 10534
3) Angel 15.35% 7031
4) Bill 12.29% 5629
5) Mick 7.89% 3614
6) Barnabas 7% 3206Of course, we don't know that Damon has 600 votes. But that really doesn't matter because the relationship of each vamp on the poll to the others remains the same percentage regardless of what his votes actually are. Even if, say, Barnabas actually has 10,000 votes, the percentages still remain the same, but the top six's total votes change to:
1) Spike 29.57% 42243
2) Eric 23% 32857
3) Angel 15.35% 21929
4) Bill 12.29% 17557
5) Mick 7.89% 11271
6) Barnabas 7% 10000The total votes in the poll would then be 142,857 (and Damon would have 1871 votes
).