You only have a vote on shares that you hold directly. There are lots of tax-incentive wrappers where this isn't true. Ultimately, yes, you usually have the flexibility of picking individual stocks. But then diversification (for security) reduces your overall time and attention available to control any one stock. Buying passive index trackers, as usually recommended, gives you neither.
In other words, it's the individual's choice whether they buy voting stock or not.
Anyone can buy shares in Microsoft (for example) and become a part-owner and have votes. And it's never been easier to do so. Microsoft will even pay you a quarterly dividend as your cut of the company's profits.
