diff --git a/lib/synapse/haproxy.rb b/lib/synapse/haproxy.rb
index b1c0beb4..0fb199ce 100644
--- a/lib/synapse/haproxy.rb
+++ b/lib/synapse/haproxy.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 require 'synapse/log'
-
 require 'socket'
-require 'digest'
 
 module Synapse
   class Haproxy
@@ -750,8 +748,12 @@ def restart
 
     # used to build unique, consistent haproxy names for backends
     def construct_name(backend)
-      address_digest = Digest::SHA256.hexdigest(backend['host'])[0..7]
-      return "#{backend['name']}:#{backend['port']}_#{address_digest}"
+      name = "#{backend['host']}:#{backend['port']}"
+      if backend['name'] && !backend['name'].empty?
+        name = "#{name}_#{backend['name']}"
+      end
+
+      return name
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/synapse/service_watcher/base.rb b/lib/synapse/service_watcher/base.rb
index 895098ad..c0193a43 100644
--- a/lib/synapse/service_watcher/base.rb
+++ b/lib/synapse/service_watcher/base.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@
 module Synapse
   class BaseWatcher
     include Logging
-    attr_reader :name, :backends, :haproxy
+
+    LEADER_WARN_INTERVAL = 30
+
+    attr_reader :name, :haproxy
 
     def initialize(opts={}, synapse)
       super()
@@ -18,6 +21,9 @@ def initialize(opts={}, synapse)
       @name = opts['name']
       @discovery = opts['discovery']
 
+      @leader_election = opts['leader_election'] || false
+      @leader_last_warn = Time.now - LEADER_WARN_INTERVAL
+
       # the haproxy config
       @haproxy = opts['haproxy']
       @haproxy['server_options'] ||= ""
@@ -58,6 +64,26 @@ def ping?
       true
     end
 
+    def backends
+      if @leader_election
+        if @backends.all?{|b| b.key?('id') && b['id']}
+          smallest = @backends.sort_by{ |b| b['id']}.first
+          log.debug "synapse: leader election chose one of #{@backends.count} backends " \
+            "(#{smallest['host']}:#{smallest['port']} with id #{smallest['id']})"
+
+          return [smallest]
+        elsif (Time.now - @leader_last_warn) > LEADER_WARN_INTERVAL
+          log.warn "synapse: service #{@name}: leader election failed; not all backends include an id"
+          @leader_last_warn = Time.now
+        end
+
+        # if leader election fails, return no backends
+        return []
+      end
+
+      return @backends
+    end
+
     private
     def validate_discovery_opts
       raise ArgumentError, "invalid discovery method '#{@discovery['method']}' for base watcher" \
diff --git a/lib/synapse/service_watcher/dns.rb b/lib/synapse/service_watcher/dns.rb
index 78bc846b..b9c70559 100644
--- a/lib/synapse/service_watcher/dns.rb
+++ b/lib/synapse/service_watcher/dns.rb
@@ -78,7 +78,6 @@ def configure_backends(servers)
       new_backends = servers.flat_map do |(server, addresses)|
         addresses.map do |address|
           {
-            'name' => server['name'],
             'host' => address,
             'port' => server['port']
           }
diff --git a/lib/synapse/service_watcher/zookeeper.rb b/lib/synapse/service_watcher/zookeeper.rb
index 9a994720..59257ed2 100644
--- a/lib/synapse/service_watcher/zookeeper.rb
+++ b/lib/synapse/service_watcher/zookeeper.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
 module Synapse
   class ZookeeperWatcher < BaseWatcher
+    NUMBERS_RE = /^\d+$/
+
     def start
       zk_hosts = @discovery['hosts'].shuffle.join(',')
 
@@ -53,18 +55,22 @@ def discover
 
       new_backends = []
       begin
-        @zk.children(@discovery['path'], :watch => true).map do |name|
-          node = @zk.get("#{@discovery['path']}/#{name}")
+        @zk.children(@discovery['path'], :watch => true).each do |id|
+          node = @zk.get("#{@discovery['path']}/#{id}")
 
           begin
-            host, port = deserialize_service_instance(node.first)
-          rescue
-            log.error "synapse: invalid data in ZK node #{name} at #{@discovery['path']}"
+            host, port, name = deserialize_service_instance(node.first)
+          rescue StandardError => e
+            log.error "synapse: invalid data in ZK node #{id} at #{@discovery['path']}: #{e}"
           else
             server_port = @server_port_override ? @server_port_override : port
 
+            # find the numberic id in the node name; used for leader elections if enabled
+            numeric_id = id.split('_').last
+            numeric_id = NUMBERS_RE =~ numeric_id ? numeric_id.to_i : nil
+
             log.debug "synapse: discovered backend #{name} at #{host}:#{server_port} for service #{@name}"
-            new_backends << { 'name' => name, 'host' => host, 'port' => server_port}
+            new_backends << { 'name' => name, 'host' => host, 'port' => server_port, 'id' => numeric_id}
           end
         end
       rescue ZK::Exceptions::NoNode
@@ -106,28 +112,16 @@ def watcher_callback
       end
     end
 
-    # tries to extract host/port from a json hash
-    def parse_json(data)
-      begin
-        json = JSON.parse data
-      rescue Object => o
-        return false
-      end
-      raise 'instance json data does not have host key' unless json.has_key?('host')
-      raise 'instance json data does not have port key' unless json.has_key?('port')
-      return json['host'], json['port']
-    end
-
     # decode the data at a zookeeper endpoint
     def deserialize_service_instance(data)
       log.debug "synapse: deserializing process data"
+      decoded = JSON.parse(data)
 
-      # if that does not work, try json
-      host, port = parse_json(data)
-      return host, port if host
+      host = decoded['host'] || (raise ValueError, 'instance json data does not have host key')
+      port = decoded['port'] || (raise ValueError, 'instance json data does not have port key')
+      name = decoded['name'] || nil
 
-      # if we got this far, then we have a problem
-      raise "could not decode this data:\n#{data}"
+      return host, port, name
     end
   end
 end