For the life of me, I can't see where the OP has his brakes assembled incorrectly. The one thing I do see in comparing the pics is the OP's e brake lever is further forward than yours. If that's the case an 1/8th of an inch can make all the difference.
The OP's pic shows driver side, with the short shoe to the front and the long shoe to the rear. The one difference is look at the hole at the bottom of the rear shoe and notice that there is a sliver of space there where the e brake lever is forward more than yours.
Switching shoes side to side is not going to bring the material further up on the steel.
