# Which nodes should participate in election? **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [February 2, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-nodes-should-participate-in-election/40788 "2016-02-02T21:07:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Igor\_Igor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c57346/32.png) [@Igor\_Igor](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Igor_Igor)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-nodes-should-participate-in-election/40788/1 "2016-02-02T21:07:03Z")
I am not clear about, which type of nodes should participate in election. As I understand from documentation by default, master eligible and data nodes take part in election, when client node don't. But I can configure this by params: discovery.zen.master\_election.filter\_client discovery.zen.master\_election.filter\_data So the question, is when I need to configure this, and what does it influence on? ---
**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-nodes-should-participate-in-election/40788/2 "2016-02-02T22:11:55Z")
Why do you want to change this, just let ES handle it! ---
**Author:** ![Igor\_Igor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c57346/32.png) [@Igor\_Igor](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Igor_Igor)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-nodes-should-participate-in-election/40788/3 "2016-02-03T20:51:56Z")
I'm not going to change it, but I'd like to understand how and why it works? ---
**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-nodes-should-participate-in-election/40788/4 "2016-02-03T22:02:15Z")
If you have node/transport clients, for example in your code, you probably don't want them to take part in elections. So really, you don't want to set that. ---
**Author:** ![Igor\_Igor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c57346/32.png) [@Igor\_Igor](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Igor_Igor)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-nodes-should-participate-in-election/40788/6 "2016-02-04T18:39:26Z")
I do not understand how can I have nodes in code. As I understand node is an instance of elastic, am I right? I can't find docs about election process, I understand minimum\_master\_nodes and split brain, but I can't understand by which principal nodes elect each other. May be you know, where I can find this information? ---
**Author:** ![Ivan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/df788c/32.png) [@Ivan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ivan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-nodes-should-participate-in-election/40788/7 "2016-02-04T19:46:29Z")
Try reading the zen discovery code: [https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/tree/master/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen](https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/tree/master/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen) ---
**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-nodes-should-participate-in-election/40788/8 "2016-02-04T20:37:54Z")
You raise a good point, I've asked that we document this - [https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/16463](https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/16463) ---
**Author:** ![Igor\_Igor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c57346/32.png) [@Igor\_Igor](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Igor_Igor)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-nodes-should-participate-in-election/40788/9 "2016-02-04T21:14:58Z")
Guys, thanks for your help. Source code is exactly what I need. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-nodes-should-participate-in-election/40788/10 "2017-07-05T23:18:47Z")