On the other hand, psychologically it makes sense that one might get more votes if he merits posts that vote for him - esp. from voters who seem desperate for merits like bounty grabbers, spammers etc., people who have difficulty getting merits (e.g. some have earned 50 merits in 6 years of being on the forum).
Definitely, sending merites could have a decisive effect on determining the winner, if the one who handed out merites exclusively to posts with a mention of his nickname won by a minimum margin. In the last competition there were several winners who won the nomination with the smallest margin (1-2 votes). This year, in almost all nominations, there was a large preponderance towards one user, for example, as you have in the Discovery of the Year nomination. And I am sure that if someone appeared claiming this nomination and tried to claim 1st place, you would still win, because objectively you are the best in this nomination and no measures to stimulate voting will correct this situation.