Ty.. i think, and my voting on your survey supported that, was to have judges have 75% voting power vs. 25% public along with keeping the forum voting. if the judges have the power then there is no harm in having forum votes and in my opinion, if you take it to a private off site voting format you (may) lose public interest in the contest overall. Coming from both a model and judges pov here, one of the best parts of the contest was seeing how well i did/how well my judging matched public opinion. People want to feel like they are involved, making a difference, comparing their choices, rooting for their favorites, etc.

(hope this makes sense)