"The procedure we are pursuing is that of true democracy. Semi-democracy accepts the dictatorship of a majority in establishing its arbitrary, ergo, unnatural, laws. True democracy discovers by patient experiment and unanimous acknowledgement what the laws of nature or universe may be for the physical support and metaphysical satisfaction of the human intellect's function in universe."
~Buckminster Fuller
In a system, such as a politcal democracy, the semi-democracy of which Fuller speaks, the goal is to win, to champion one solution over another. It's not even about truly solving a problem, but choosing which of a few, hurriedly put together and proposed solutions will "win". The committment is to a solution rather than finding a good solution; whichever solution will "win" the most votes. In this atmosphere, it is highly likely that many stake holders will not be counted because they can't raise a hand or cast a ballot. I suspect there are many ghosts of extinct species that wish they had had a say in Man's decisions about how we treat the environment.
In a system dedicated to finding, in a consultative and inclusive way, the best solution, the interests of those who are not capable of voting are much more likely to be considered, affirming our interbeing with all life forms. A consultative form of governance does not rely on votes, but on participation and reaching consensus.