I think gidgreen's solution is gonna be the best way, but as promised here's what I did:
1. Change the signature of the voting function to this:
function voting($post,$arrows=true)
2. Change the call to voting_inner_html in the voting function:
$this->voting_inner_html($post,$arrows);
3. Change voting_inner_html to this:
function voting_inner_html($post,$arrows=true)
{
if ($arrows)
$this->vote_buttons($post);
$this->vote_count($post);
$this->vote_clear();
}
4. In the q_item_stats function, change the call to the voting function:
$this->voting($question,false);