The steemit account alone has enough vests to single-handedly make 19 brand new accounts the top 19

That is the reason that "Decline Voting Rights" feature was introduced in latest release.

An account can chose to decline their voting rights after a 30 day delay. This includes voting on content and witnesses. The voting rights cannot be acquired again once they have been declined. This is only to formalize a smart contract between certain accounts and the community that currently only exists as a social contract.