I believe there were more people than voted in the room.

So what? If they didn't vote, they abstained, just as surely as if they'd turned in blank ballots. And if you don't vote, you (literally) do not count.

Many were not happy with either choice.

Again, so what? We have what choices we have. People who thought neither choice was suitable had the option to write in "None of the Above" or any desired alternative. Note that even one vote for NOTA would have meant that no bid had a majority, and we would have had to decide what to do next. I admit that there's a chance that we might have simply agreed to let the bid with the plurality win. We have no rules, so all we have is common parliamentary law to fall back on.

It's also a bit unfair for the west coast people to have to fly east twice.

Well, from my point of view here in California, I think Boulder is probably almost as far away -- based on travel time an inconvenience of the over-the-road transfer from DIA -- as Columbus. And there's more to SMOFcon attendance than the two North American coasts. Surely you don't mean that we should adopt a Zone Rotation Plan?

With so many people vying for future Smofcons, voting is going to become more frequent, unless some back room strong-arming occurs.

I think that's why Scott Dennis said he wishes they'd tied, so that it would make people even less willing to take things to a ballot.