You are currently having 2 loops, while you only need one. Something like this should work:
<ul>
<?php
$args = array( 'post_status' => 'pending');
$recent_posts = wp_get_recent_posts ( $args );
foreach( $recent_posts as $recent ){
echo '<li><a href="' . get_permalink( $recent["ID"] ) . '" title="' . esc_attr( $recent["post_title"] ) . '">';
echo get_the_post_thumbnail($recent["ID"], 'thumbnail');
echo '</a></li>';
echo '<li class="vote-title"><a href="' . get_permalink($recent["ID"]) . '" title="Look '.esc_attr($recent["post_title"]).'" >' . $recent["post_title"].'</a> '. $recent["the_author"].' </li>';
}
?>
</ul>