diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 28e6beb..6bb9a21 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ docker-compose run --rm app python make nightly
 docker-compose run --rm app python manage.py make_search_index
 ```
 
+To enable candidate merging for local development, create an admin user (`python manage.py createsuperuser`) and turn on database caching by adding `DJANGO_CACHE_BACKEND: "db.DatabaseCache"` to the environment block in `docker-compose.yml`. (django-select2 requires a persistent cache.) _This step is not necessary if you do not need to test merge functionality._
+
 Finally, run the app:
 
 ```bash
diff --git a/camp_fin/settings.py b/camp_fin/settings.py
index c437a21..f032839 100644
--- a/camp_fin/settings.py
+++ b/camp_fin/settings.py
@@ -190,8 +190,9 @@
 
 # Caching
 
-cache_backend = "dummy.DummyCache" if DEBUG is True else "db.DatabaseCache"
-cache_backend = "db.DatabaseCache"
+cache_backend = os.getenv(
+    "DJANGO_CACHE_BACKEND", "dummy.DummyCache" if DEBUG else "db.DatabaseCache"
+)
 CACHES = {
     "default": {
         "BACKEND": f"django.core.cache.backends.{cache_backend}",
diff --git a/camp_fin/static/css/custom.css b/camp_fin/static/css/custom.css
index 41c781a..9fc2977 100644
--- a/camp_fin/static/css/custom.css
+++ b/camp_fin/static/css/custom.css
@@ -472,3 +472,7 @@ h4 small {
 #redaction-form td {
     padding: 10px;
 }
+
+.alert-info .select2-selection__choice {
+    color: #000;
+}
diff --git a/camp_fin/templates/camp_fin/candidate-detail.html b/camp_fin/templates/camp_fin/candidate-detail.html
index a532180..901794e 100644
--- a/camp_fin/templates/camp_fin/candidate-detail.html
+++ b/camp_fin/templates/camp_fin/candidate-detail.html
@@ -36,23 +36,36 @@ <h3>Related stories</h3>
       {% endif %}
     </div>
   </div>
-  <div class="row">
-    <div class="col-md-12">
-      {% if messages %}
-<ul class="messages">
-    {% for message in messages %}
-    <li{% if message.tags %} class="{{ message.tags }}"{% endif %}>{{ message }}</li>
-    {% endfor %}
-</ul>
-{% endif %}
-      <form method="POST">
-        {% csrf_token %}
-        {{ form.as_p }}
-        <input type="submit">
-    </form>
-    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.5.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
-    {{ form.media.js }}
-  </div></div>
+  {% if user.is_authenticated %}
+    <div class="row">
+      <div class="col-md-8">
+        <div class="alert alert-info" role="alert">
+          <h4>
+            Merge records about <strong>{{ candidate.full_name }}</strong>
+          </h4>
+
+          {% if messages %}
+            <ul class="messages">
+                {% for message in messages %}
+                <li{% if message.tags %} class="{{ message.tags }}"{% endif %}>{{ message }}</li>
+                {% endfor %}
+            </ul>
+          {% endif %}
+
+          <form method="post">
+            <p>Use the search box below to find one or more candidate records to merge with the current candidate record, <strong>{{ candidate.full_name }}</strong>. Merging will consolidate all related committees, candidacies, and transactions under the current candidate <strong>and cannot be undone</strong>. You can look up records to merge by candidate name or slug, e.g., <em>John Smith</em> or <em>john-smith-hvP0y</em>.</p>
+            <p>
+              {{ form.alias_objects }}
+            </p>
+            {% csrf_token %}
+            <div align="center"><input type="submit" class="btn btn-primary" style="width: unset!important;"></div>
+          </form>
+          <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.5.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
+          {{ form.media.js }}
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    </div>      
+  {% endif %}
   <div class="row">
     <div class="col-xs-12">
       <a href="{% url 'bulk-contributions-list' %}?candidate_id={{ candidate.id }}" class="btn btn-default"
diff --git a/camp_fin/views.py b/camp_fin/views.py
index 52c5bda..0bd0208 100644
--- a/camp_fin/views.py
+++ b/camp_fin/views.py
@@ -1314,10 +1314,6 @@ class CandidateMergeForm(forms.Form):
             model=Candidate,
             search_fields=["full_name__icontains", "slug__iexact"],
         ),
-        choices=[
-            (choice, name)
-            for choice, name in Candidate.objects.values_list("id", "full_name")
-        ],
     )
 
 
@@ -1326,6 +1322,16 @@ class CandidateDetail(FormView, CommitteeDetailBaseView):
     model = Candidate
     form_class = CandidateMergeForm
 
+    def get_form(self, form_class=None):
+        form = super().get_form(form_class=form_class)
+        form.fields["alias_objects"].choices = [
+            (choice, name)
+            for choice, name in Candidate.objects.exclude(
+                slug=self.object.slug
+            ).values_list("id", "full_name")
+        ]
+        return form
+
     def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
         context = super().get_context_data(**kwargs)
 
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 6acb5d7..44d976d 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ services:
       DJANGO_SECRET_KEY: "local secret key"
       DJANGO_MANAGEPY_MIGRATE: "on"
       DJANGO_DEBUG: "True"
+      DJANGO_CACHE_BACKEND: "db.DatabaseCache"
     env_file:
       - .env
     entrypoint: /app/docker-entrypoint.sh
diff --git a/docker-entrypoint.sh b/docker-entrypoint.sh
index da77a0c..2b5cabc 100755
--- a/docker-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -5,4 +5,8 @@ if [ "$DJANGO_MANAGEPY_MIGRATE" = 'on' ]; then
     python manage.py migrate --noinput
 fi
 
+if [ "$DJANGO_CACHE_BACKEND" = 'db.DatabaseCache' ]; then
+    python manage.py createcachetable
+fi
+
 exec "$@"