Yes, I was not aware of this aspect of the election process (each KMD votes in each region). I had anticipated a node quota being 1/64 of 100M KMD, with this scheme a node quota will be 1/16 of KMD, which is 6.25% of the vote. Even with ~2.7% of the vote I am clearly well under half a quota now. I am considering whether to run now at all as I don't believe I would get elected now. My 'plan B' option of hiring a node operator myself to run a 'guaranteed' node looks to be dead in the water. Maybe 2-3 other individuals could combine votes with me into 6.25% of the total vote and then we run 4  guaranteed nodes, but that is more difficult. As I said above, I prefer a set-and-forget arrangement that gives me a nice income stream. Less is more for me if the arrangement is simple and easy to manage!

Others have mentioned the likelihood of 'voting pools' starting eventually, similar to mining pools in PoW coins, and forging pools in NXT. I will wait and see what happens there. I am not too keen on the idea of just selling my vote to the highest bidder, but 2.69% of the vote does have some value. I do want to see viable and stable node operators emerge, but where there are elections and money involved, there will always be coalitions, horse-trading, & deals made to get people elected. I will wait and see what happens. I will say I have no complaint on the election scheme. I was not aware of this detail, but it makes sense why it was chosen.