I'm using Voyager, but that's a good point: clients are free to sort the data however they like.
To be accurate, I think what I heard was that the "front page" feed was populated by activity, not votes.
As per the echo chamber, consider hosts like hexabear, or even my own instance, which has a strong left-leaning flavor. I joined my instance because it's regionally local, not because of the politics, but I think it's run by - and, at least initially, populated by - 2A socialists: most members appeared to members of a socialist gun club in Wisconsin (or Illinois?). And Democrat members that try to post on Hexabear get the shit beaten out of them, metaphorically. Votes, IMO, are a much gentler tool for voicing approval or disapproval than vitriolic abuse in comments.