diff --git a/contrib/mesos/pkg/election/master.go b/contrib/mesos/pkg/election/master.go
index a5360e0abc1..a7ef790930d 100644
--- a/contrib/mesos/pkg/election/master.go
+++ b/contrib/mesos/pkg/election/master.go
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@ limitations under the License.
 package election
 
 import (
-	"sync"
-
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/contrib/mesos/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/watch"
 
@@ -46,14 +44,7 @@ type Service interface {
 }
 
 type notifier struct {
-	changed chan struct{} // to notify the service loop about changed state
-
-	// desired is updated with every change, current is updated after
-	// Start()/Stop() finishes. 'cond' is used to signal that a change
-	// might be needed. This handles the case where mastership flops
-	// around without calling Start()/Stop() excessively.
-	desired, current Master
-	lock             sync.Mutex // to protect the desired variable
+	masters chan Master // elected masters arrive here, should be buffered to better deal with rapidly flapping masters
 
 	// for comparison, to see if we are master.
 	id Master
@@ -64,8 +55,7 @@ type notifier struct {
 // Notify runs Elect() on m, and calls Start()/Stop() on s when the
 // elected master starts/stops matching 'id'. Never returns.
 func Notify(m MasterElector, path, id string, s Service, abort <-chan struct{}) {
-	n := &notifier{id: Master(id), service: s}
-	n.changed = make(chan struct{})
+	n := &notifier{id: Master(id), service: s, masters: make(chan Master, 1)}
 	finished := runtime.After(func() {
 		runtime.Until(func() {
 			for {
@@ -87,14 +77,21 @@ func Notify(m MasterElector, path, id string, s Service, abort <-chan struct{})
 							break
 						}
 
-						n.lock.Lock()
-						n.desired = electedMaster
-						n.lock.Unlock()
-
-						// notify serviceLoop, but don't block. If a change
-						// is queued already it will see the new n.desired.
-						select {
-						case n.changed <- struct{}{}:
+					sendElected:
+						for {
+							select {
+							case <-abort:
+								return
+							case n.masters <- electedMaster:
+								break sendElected
+							default: // ring full, discard old value and add the new
+								select {
+								case <-abort:
+									return
+								case <-n.masters:
+								default: // ring was cleared for us?!
+								}
+							}
 						}
 					}
 				}
@@ -106,22 +103,19 @@ func Notify(m MasterElector, path, id string, s Service, abort <-chan struct{})
 
 // serviceLoop waits for changes, and calls Start()/Stop() as needed.
 func (n *notifier) serviceLoop(abort <-chan struct{}) {
+	var current Master
 	for {
 		select {
 		case <-abort:
 			return
-		case <-n.changed:
-			n.lock.Lock()
-			newDesired := n.desired // copy value to avoid race below
-			n.lock.Unlock()
-
-			if n.current != n.id && newDesired == n.id {
-				n.service.Validate(newDesired, n.current)
+		case desired := <-n.masters:
+			if current != n.id && desired == n.id {
+				n.service.Validate(desired, current)
 				n.service.Start()
-			} else if n.current == n.id && newDesired != n.id {
+			} else if current == n.id && desired != n.id {
 				n.service.Stop()
 			}
-			n.current = newDesired
+			current = desired
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/contrib/mesos/pkg/scheduler/service/service.go b/contrib/mesos/pkg/scheduler/service/service.go
index 691736c87a4..d1a9fc5225e 100644
--- a/contrib/mesos/pkg/scheduler/service/service.go
+++ b/contrib/mesos/pkg/scheduler/service/service.go
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ import (
 	mesos "github.com/mesos/mesos-go/mesosproto"
 	mutil "github.com/mesos/mesos-go/mesosutil"
 	bindings "github.com/mesos/mesos-go/scheduler"
+	"github.com/pborman/uuid"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 	"golang.org/x/net/context"
@@ -594,8 +595,14 @@ func (s *SchedulerServer) Run(hks hyperkube.Interface, _ []string) error {
 		validation := ha.ValidationFunc(validateLeadershipTransition)
 		srv := ha.NewCandidate(schedulerProcess, driverFactory, validation)
 		path := meta.ElectionPath(s.frameworkName)
-		log.Infof("registering for election at %v with id %v", path, eid.GetValue())
-		go election.Notify(election.NewEtcdMasterElector(etcdClient), path, eid.GetValue(), srv, nil)
+		uuid := eid.GetValue() + ":" + uuid.New() // unique for each scheduler instance
+		log.Infof("registering for election at %v with id %v", path, uuid)
+		go election.Notify(
+			election.NewEtcdMasterElector(etcdClient),
+			path,
+			uuid,
+			srv,
+			nil)
 	} else {
 		log.Infoln("self-electing in non-HA mode")
 		schedulerProcess.Elect(driverFactory)
@@ -650,8 +657,28 @@ func (s *SchedulerServer) awaitFailover(schedulerProcess schedulerProcessInterfa
 
 func validateLeadershipTransition(desired, current string) {
 	log.Infof("validating leadership transition")
+	// desired, current are of the format <executor-id>:<scheduler-uuid> (see Run()).
+	// parse them and ensure that executor ID's match, otherwise the cluster can get into
+	// a bad state after scheduler failover: executor ID is a config hash that must remain
+	// consistent across failover events.
+	var (
+		i = strings.LastIndex(desired, ":")
+		j = strings.LastIndex(current, ":")
+	)
+
+	if i > -1 {
+		desired = desired[0:i]
+	} else {
+		log.Fatalf("desired id %q is invalid", desired)
+	}
+	if j > -1 {
+		current = current[0:j]
+	} else if current != "" {
+		log.Fatalf("current id %q is invalid", current)
+	}
+
 	if desired != current && current != "" {
-		log.Fatalf("desired executor id != current executor id", desired, current)
+		log.Fatalf("desired executor id %q != current executor id %q", desired, current)
 	}
 }