Jon you already probably caught my opinion on the Solved feature so I won't repeat quite all that here. But I appreciate this question because I feel that it's a step in the right direction on the whole thing--A vote feature would be a step towards the "much better" paradigm of evaluating design by polling experienced or at least 'peer' level designers, as sharply contrasted with the 'Solved' feature which leaves the decision up to the person least qualified to evaluate the design...the very person who had the question in the first place. (Sounds harsh, but true - Think for a moment about the concept of a Code Review at work....The person who stamps the approval on the code review obviously isn't the person who designed it!...And even more so in the case of the person who had the question they couldn't solve. When I was on a SQL Server dev team in my last job and had a question about partitioning, hands down the most valuable thing that comes out of that is the combined wisdom of the 5 more experienced colleagues who answered my question & provided insight--not mine).
The vote feature is more in line with higher level development forums as well as solid design/feedback/research principles. It's much more meaningful because it represents a wider base of developer opinion. 20 developers' cumulative opinion is usually going to be better than one OP's. Just the way life goes & I would apply this same principle to myself every time I have a question. It's nice when I think my problem is 'solved', but it's 10x as valuable to know what a global development community thought about the various ideas presented (if I am being an honest developer).
I vote for anonymous upvotes, if such a feature would be available.
PS..I guess there is some distinct advantages to both Solved and a potential Vote feature. The Solved at least lets people know the OP is no longer struggling. Some members will prefer to focus on that metric and move on. But having the Vote is a 'nod' to the value of the whole other side of it, which would add value to the site and bring it to a higher level, I think.