Hehehe... look at you guys actually thinking we'll run out of worthwhile characters anytime soon. Not that we'll make it all the way until the game's release and still have meaningful characters, but there's still 60+ I can name off the top of my head who stand a better chance than Owain or Sandbag.
Anyway, here's another suggestion. If a character we've already rated has something big happen that might radically change his or her chances one way or another, how about giving that character say, 50, honorary revote nominations or something?
Examples of the infinite number of things that might happen in a Nintendo Direct or new trailer or interview that change our perceptions of a character's likelihood:
-The fourth playable character in DKCR: Tropical Freeze is King K. Rool. or maybe the opposite happens, no Kremling Krew whatsoever
-A new Punch-Out!! is announced, and Little Mac is not the protagonist. Geez, maybe he isn't as likely now.
-A new Mysterious Ninja Castle is announced. 50 renominations for Takamaru!
-The new The Legend of Zelda for Wii U has Ghirahim or Vaati or Skull Kid or Tingle.
and so on, and so forth.