It might make it look more uniform, and less chaotic, if you move the voting, commenting and other elements that have static widths to the left side of the link.
that's an interesting idea. the one line + variying lengths + static lengths produces some issues for sure.
I think it would be better to align the vote arrows vertically, like in reddit and here, rather than putting the down arrow at the right of the up one.
good call...tough to squeeze them in there since we're putting a premium on # of stories per view though...
You are getting asked to increase the spacing between lines anyway. Good luck with your decision. :)