Maybe they didn't bother voting them as the already knew the...

Maybe they didn't bother voting them as the already knew the result and didn't need to, though you would think as a matter of course if they were eligible to be voted they should have been.

Think you're right though, if they were told that they weren't eligible, shareholders definitely should have been informed as that information certainly could have influenced the vote. The low voter response could quite easily have been partly due to the fact that a lot of smaller holders probably saw the result as a foregone conclusion (due to the large amount of shares controlled by management) and therefore thought voting would be a waste of time anyway.