Robot Design: If there isn't a vote, who makes the decisions?

[cadandcookies]

Recently, there was a post that really raised some questions in my mind about how people run their teams (mind you, not "they're doing it wrong" questions, but just simple curiosity).

Specifically these quotes:

Originally Posted by JVN

"Voting is not an engineering process. We will never vote on a design."

And:

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Voting presumes everyone gets the same say in something and that everyone is equally qualified to have a say in something. This is simply not the case. We find voting to be a popularity contest, not a logical decision making process, and therefore we don't do it. The problem is, you get kids voting for things they are not capable of carrying out.

My question is simple: in teams that do not vote on designs, how are decisions regarding designs made?