I think you are right. Josie and her pals expected to win. They know they would survive the non confidence vote because they were privy to the number of new members that supported them. It was revealed that Aware has now 3000 members, but there were only about 2100 votes in the end. Had the remaining 900 showed up (and I believe most of them would have supported Josie), the no confidence vote motion would have been defeated.
Of course, it begs the question why didn't these people turn up? My honest optimistic reply would be that these people actually sat and thought about it and decided it is morally wrong to support Josie and sully religion with secular affairs.