When flagging a question as a duplicate, a comment appears under that post: "Does this answer your question?..."

I have noticed that sometimes this comment has been upvoted. Also I have noticed that the post has been closed as a duplicate after that comment got 5 upvotes, which led me suspect that the number of upvotes indicates the number of close votes. Is this the case?

If yes, then what happens when a community member who has not yet gained privilege to cast close votes (<3k rep), upvote that comment?