To go as far as to say that Sophie Dee and Vicky Vette are not even TOP-100 material, is going a bit too far. They may not be the type of women you prefer, but they still are good at what they do, have certain "assets" and are well known.
One may argue wether or not they are in the spots they should be, but I don't think that at this time any vote manipulation is taking place - it's still only Round 1.
Sophie Dee is popular (or else she wouldn't have won last year), and well known among Anonymous Voters, FreeOnes Members and Active FreeOnes Boards Members. It's true that she hasn't posted on FreeOnes since October 2011 (correct me if I am mistaken and had looked up wrongly), and for a Reigning Miss FreeOnes 2011 I consider that a minus point, but that's just my opinion.
Vicky Vette is very active on the boards, and as Petra said, is busting her ass open to promote herself. She definitely has a lot of fans on the board, and if you would follow the thread "Round 1 of Miss FreeOnes 2012 has started! Who will be in the top 50?!" where many Members post who they vote for (and a few also why), you'd see that Vicky is getting a lot of votes. Just as Vicky has a lot of fans here, she probably has just as many detractors, but it being Round 1, her detractors are not concentrating vote on any particular Babe, but dividing their votes upon their personal favorites.
A final note to OP: You could be enjoying the benefits of the maximum vote count, had you posted more, in 6 1/2 years that you are here.
impdaddy