This is just a personal opinion, mostly offered in response to the "what's the appeal?" questions.
First, I think the Maquette has a lot to do with it. As we speak, there are some Mara Jade action figures on E-Bay going for around $5. The Padme Maquette with a bid is currently at $239. Right now, there is more supply than demand for a Mara Jade 3D sculpture and there is more demand than supply for snow bunny Padme 3D sculpture. People who *love* Mara have something. People who *love* snow bunny Padme probably don't, and it's probably killing them. I think if Hasbro would have done a regular snow bunny action figure, she would have done much worse in the polls.
Next, I think of all the EU, the Clone Wars cartoons got the most exposure. Even TV shows that do poorly in ratings are seen by millions, whereas not every fan has picked up a novel with Mara.
One arguement I personally don't buy is the "she won because she was in a movie" idea. There were 9294 votes, and she got 54 more than Mara. I find it hard to swallow that Mara fans wouldn't be able to accept that among hardcore star wars collectors, a handful more might find the snow bunny design more attractive than the mara design. I also think that with only 10,000 votes overall, the poll did not attract casual fans. It wasn't like walking around the office asking people to pick a Star Wars character from a list-- the people who voted in the poll had to WANT to vote, and they had to FIND the website. If this were a poll where millions voted and Padme clobbered all the EU and grabbed over half the votes, THEN I'd buy the "it's because she was in a movie" arguement.
I voted for Thrawn. He got his butt kicked. Still, I would have picked Padme over Vos, Mara, and Asajj strictly because I like the outfit. My vote had nothing to do with movie recognition and everything to do with what design I found most appealing.
One thing I do believe is that there may be a backlash. I think Padme voters probably want to see an animated style figure, and I don't think they'll get it. If she comes out with a movie likeness and there is a backlash, I think that alone could invalidate the argument that she won because she was a movie character.
Finally, I want to throw something else out that may or may not have to do with the win. I find Mara UGLY. I find snow bunny cute. Maybe others feel the same.
At any rate, I certainly don't want to argue about it. The voting is over and the winner has won, and it wasn't Thrawn, and I'm not going to whine about it. I only hope this might help shed some light on why she may have won for those of you who just don't get it. Heck, I was surprised she did as poorly as she did during week one, but I'll tell you one thing I know for a fact: I have a friend who is really upset over missing the maquette, and he proably wouldn't have voted in the poll, but once he learned about Snow Bunny being in it, he got his act together and voted. In the end, maybe that's what happened-- word got out among the crowd that felt burned over the maquette.