No, I will hire a node setup (what jl777 calls a 'money printing machine') from an existing notary operator and compete for votes by offering a high voter %
You won't get any votes that way. To run a Notary Node you should be commited to the community, be fluent in Komodod, Iguana, assetchains, and at least have basic command line experience.
If you really want to become a candidate, you should maybe run a small node some months prior to the election and gain some experience.
Notaries are an important part of the security of the entire network.......IMO, I don't think the community will elect someone who "buys" a node.
We also don't share our mining profits with our voters. In a way that is also buying a vote. Ark delegates work that way. I am not sure if James would want the same system to evolve here.
In part, the notary mining profits act as subsidy for the server hosting and all the man hours you put into the operation of the node.
I can definitely say that all current operators work hard to keep updated and running. It might get easier as the platform matures but we still need to trust in the ability of the operator. I also run a PIVX masternode and I can say it's 10 times easier than running a KMD notary node.
At current kmd price notaries are making +2000 USD a month which is a good income for the work involved, but if/when kmd x10 the return becomes something much greater than a fair return for the work required to run a notary. Do you really think current notaries will continue earning +20k usd a month indefinitely? What about when kmd marketcap is 10bil USD, and monthly income for notary is 200K USD.
notary elections will be extremely competitive from now on, the guaranteed income potential is phenomenal, so the number of candidates will be very high.