I've tried both... Vbulletin is less buggy, and more robust. Easier to upgrade also. Phpbb is also very good, especially because it's free..
Here's a good, free PHP script for poll: http://members.lycos.co.uk/xscripts03/ It's called X-Poll.
You probably have a syntax error in your html, like overlapping tags. If you were doing everything right, then there shouldn't be problems like...
I was trying out various CMS's last day. One of the simplest was http://www.eazyportal.com/. It's easy to install and maintain, has a navigation...
Try searching for rating modules and add-ons for various forums.. I bet Coppermine photo gallery would have rating addon or module?
Separate names with a comma.
