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I don't know the answer. I am hoping someone would.

I think the answer is "no". I did a few minutes of searches, and nothing I read would lead me to believe that upvoting users with lower values will hurt you. The only thing that can hurt you is being downvoted by users with a higher reputation.

your reputation isn't going down by upvoting others. only the voting power does, and it recovers afterwards. also your reputation can only go up if a person with a higher reputation upvotes you. cheers :)