Whilst it's clear this is basically a story about crap reporting, Instrument Ranting has the beginnings of a point... by all means keep the pax as fully informed as you like, but the vote was *probably* a mistake... and as we've seen, liable to misinterpretation.
I recall a conversation with colleagues many years ago about the nature of captaincy... one colleague told the story of the Navy captain who, with shore leave due and the ship approximately equidistant from two possible ports, allowed the crew to vote on where *they* would prefer to take shore leave.
When the higher-ups found out about it, the captain was immediately ordered back to home port... and never allowed to sail again. Desk job.
Granted, this was a military command. The point remains: with ultimate responsibility comes ultimate authority. *You* carry the can, you don't need the help of the pax to make decisions like that...
Probably seemed a good idea at the time...!
R1