How many people actually see these discussions at the bottom of the discussion board?

It is actually not at the bottom, but rather on the middle. I usually look for "popular now" discussions and no upvotes or 1 upvote is not so far from the top. I will not upvote this intentionally. Cheers!

Not sure exactly, but my discussions usually get 2-5 upvotes on average even when they're not super popular. I guess a lot of folks browse through the new discussions. Helps to have an engaging title too!