= everyone who wants to obtain a Merit will start to nominate Bob and Ted, therefore Bob and Ted are "indirectly bribing" voters and possibly, more members will act like Bob and Ted.
Exactly what I was thinking. Bribing isn't prevented; what's prevented is the instant conclusion that
there are bribers. Disability to merit means there cannot be Bobs and Teds who will gather their voters in one place and, essentially, sell their merits. Alts can only get what they want if they ask for it privately, which discourages them due to merit whoring. Bribing is, ultimately, reduced in a large scale.