But that's literally what the poll is for. it's even in the description for it. It's to pair people who would likely never been paired through the story on their own. Lucia x Kevin would have been a prime example and even WWG calls Drew x Ophelia a waste, because it was going to happen anyways. So we just wasted 1 of our possible last chance uses.
Let me add some nuance to the "waste" issue...
WWG is trying not to spoil all the pairings he has planned, so there's a fair chance the votes may
coincidentally choose some of them. I know it wasn't a solid
commitment, but if he does what he said (see snip from Discord below), then he'll put more work into pairings he was already planning if they end up winning, so that's not
necessarily a waste.
The only "waste" (to some people) is that non-main characters can't win more than one poll, so if they want a
certain pairing e.g. BrennaxKevin, then it would be a "waste" if LuciaxKevin won a poll, because then Kevin is locked out of future polls.
I think the reason for the rule is that WWG wants to give more attention to the main characters (as with earlier chapters), and it might rob the main characters of spotlight if chapter 13 was to feature the same non-main characters in multiple scenes with different partners.
Currently Drew and Keira are poll winners (in separate polls), and are thus barred from future votes. Again, as non-main characters, they were less likely to be featured in multiple pairings anyway, so they're only "wasted" (for some people) if they aren't featured in different pairing people wanted to see.