same here,it was at least a month before I new where to go to find these contests.I didn't know there were contests until I saw it in signatures. I think whoever greeting me in the introduce your self thread said something about it, but most likely, like me, others don't really pay attention to that part yet.
Perhaps there would be voters if there was something on the home page about voting for member of the month and so on. "Make your vote count. Vote now" Have the vote now be a link to the contests.