Lost leader after restarting chef-backend

Using a chef-backend cluster with 3 backend nodes - backend1, backend2 and backend3. backend1 is the current leader. When I stop chef-backend (chef-backendctl stop) on all three machines, the start it up again the cluster has no leader and never recovers.

Expected Behavior

Leader to be re-elected after restarting chef-backend on all three backend machines.

Current Behavior

Leader is never re-elected after starting the services and leaderl logs show:

2018-02-15_17:03:14.91161 [I] <0.715.0> leader_elector:init => leader_elector is starting in state: initializing
2018-02-15_17:03:14.91226 [I] <0.716.0> status_updater:init => status_updater started
2018-02-15_17:03:14.97625 [I] <0.563.0> no_mod:no_fun => Application leaderl started on node 'leaderl@127.0.0.1'
2018-02-15_17:03:14.97720 [I] <0.563.0> no_mod:no_fun => Application eper started on node 'leaderl@127.0.0.1'
2018-02-15_17:03:14.97785 [I] <0.563.0> no_mod:no_fun => Application recon started on node 'leaderl@127.0.0.1'
2018-02-15_17:03:15.09875 [I] <0.730.0> key_watcher:handle_info => Initial start of watcher on behalf of leader_block_state for "cb/control/blocked_leaders"
2018-02-15_17:03:15.09967 [I] <0.729.0> leader_elector:do_connect => Connecting as node backend1 (10.40.10.56,da5d0b3758d410e434be81a1453b4c24)
2018-02-15_17:03:15.09997 [I] <0.729.0> leader_elector:do_connect => Leader no_leader, Boot no_bootstrap_node
2018-02-15_17:03:15.10002 [I] <0.729.0> leader_elector:do_connect => No leader in place.
2018-02-15_17:03:15.10048 [I] <0.729.0> leader_elector:do_connect => I am NOT a bootstrap node because bootstrap_key returned no_bootstrap_node so I'll wait for a leader.

cluster-status shows:

Name            IP           GUID                              Role                PG        ES
backend2  10.40.10.57  59540d34fa370a28ed3098cc78b2a245  waiting_for_leader  follower  not_master
backend1  10.40.10.56  da5d0b3758d410e434be81a1453b4c24  waiting_for_leader  leader    not_master
backend3  10.40.10.55  8c4ae52bf8a7b77ee65b638f7159199a  waiting_for_leader  follower  master

Steps to Reproduce (for bugs)

1. Starting with backend1, then backend2 followed by backend3 "chef-backendctl stop"
2. Bring back chef in the reverse order - staring with backend3, then backend2 followed by backend3 "chef-backendctl start"

Your Environment

• Chef Server Version: chef-backend 2.0.1
• Total/free RAM and disk space: Total RAM 8GB / free RAM 5.2 GB
• Operating System and Version: ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS
• If upgrading, previous Chef Server version: N/A
• Running in a container? no

Start with the leader_elector log messages and the documented three-node restart sequence, using the chef-backend 2.0.1 environment details as context. Reproduce the stop/start order and inspect why all nodes remain waiting_for_leader; done means a leader is re-elected and cluster-status no longer reports waiting_for_leader.