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I think you need 500 karma or so.

You can only downvote comments, not stories, at 500 karma

Ah. I'm sitting at 297 right now, so that does make sense... and thanks for clearing that up for me!

As a relatively new person, I didn't even know anyone could downvote

Users with >500 karma can downvote comments, not stories. No one can downvote stories.