I was in a race earlier with at least 10 people (I believe), and someone started a poll to restart the race. The results were 2 for YES and 1 for NO, and the race restarted. Voting really needs to be way more one-sided after a race has started, in order for it to count.
This was brought up several times to the Devs, and as far as I know it will change next beta into not voting during a race = no.