I'm being very careful to not proclaim _what_ I think the punishment/learning should be. I'll concede that my 7-11 analogy makes it sound like I'd push for a harsh punishment, though that's not my intent (and indeed, is detracting from my main point, which is that _the student made a large mistake_, on par with cheating on a test or worse, and there is a large amount of blame that belongs on that student's shoulders, regardless of how poor the cybersecurity of the voting mechanism was).

These two scenarios are nothing alike.

Swartz was an adult who decided to do something illegal that he believed was nonetheless moral and the right thing to do. (I agree with his stance, but doubt I would have the balls for such civil disobedience.)

This HS student is a child who committed voter fraud in a student election for his own benefit. Nothing noble about that.

You're not wrong, and in a just world that Swartz situation would have never even happened because we'd have a reasonable setup for papers.

With that said, he was also an adult making a conscious decision to fight the system. TFA is still a minor, in high school.

He was given leniency, he didn't take it.