ignore accepted epoch and LEADERINFO ack from observers when a newly elected leader computes new epoch

    private final HashSet<Long> connectingFollowers = new HashSet<Long>();
    public long getEpochToPropose(long sid, long lastAcceptedEpoch) throws InterruptedException, IOException {
        synchronized(connectingFollowers) {
            if (!waitingForNewEpoch) {
                return epoch;
            }
            if (lastAcceptedEpoch >= epoch) {
                epoch = lastAcceptedEpoch+1;
            }
            connectingFollowers.add(sid);
            QuorumVerifier verifier = self.getQuorumVerifier();
            if (connectingFollowers.contains(self.getId()) &&
                                            verifier.containsQuorum(connectingFollowers)) {
                waitingForNewEpoch = false;
                self.setAcceptedEpoch(epoch);
                connectingFollowers.notifyAll();
            } else {
                long start = Time.currentElapsedTime();
                long cur = start;
                long end = start + self.getInitLimit()*self.getTickTime();
                while(waitingForNewEpoch && cur < end) {
                    connectingFollowers.wait(end - cur);
                    cur = Time.currentElapsedTime();
                }
                if (waitingForNewEpoch) {
                    throw new InterruptedException("Timeout while waiting for epoch from quorum");
                }
            }
            return epoch;
        }
    }