Yes. It ended 4 months ago...
Why would you sign-up to tec.ark.io ? ARKs have already been distributed to those that had accounts - if you sign-up with new account your balance will be 0 .
https://blog.ark.io/how-to-vote-or-un-vote-an-ark-delegate-and-how-does-it-all-work-819c5439da68
Yes, you need to buy ARK coins with Bitcoins Bittrex.com would be a great place to start.
Then transfer the ARK coins to your wallet address.
It says it a cold wallet because you have never sent anything out from there.
I just want to make sure one more time, other than having to trust the delegate to payout, is there any risk at all with the actual coins (eg. 30,000 ARK) I use to vote? Does the delegate, or anyone but me for that matter, have any sort of access to the coins I decide to "share" with the delegate? I'm planning on voting for 2 delegates and splitting my coins 50/50 with each (about 15,000 ARK coins each)...