Another issue is people are up voting what seems like good content before they even read it. For instance, a descent article was just published and within seconds of me refreshing the new listings it was up voted 4 times. It was a long article and there's no way anyone had time to even read it yet.
People are gaming the system and quickly trying to get the first or second vote just by glancing. I agree with the above poster, if voting results were hidden or if the votes for the first 10 minutes were all given the same weight so it wasn't a race to click, it would be better for everyone.