This one was kind of troubling, if you ask me:

    >If the leader ever dies, a new leader will be elected
    >through a simple protocol that uses random sleeps and
    >leader declarations.

Why not have each node self-generate a UUID and engage in some gossip process that ends with the cluster becoming aware that some node's corresponding UUID is uniquely significant, therefore recognizing that node as a leader?

I have some really bad memories of "random sleeps" at scale.