You could have let the vote/flag ratio decide. These articles all came out within a short window. Picking the first eventually (if it hasn't already) leads to a LLM race.
Please consider a (perhaps automatic) top "some comments merged from" note in the destination thread.
I appreciate the response. AFAICT you did indeed pick the first article, and I didn't check that before I made the above comment. You do not have an easy job!