Assuming that everything goes as it now appears – Democratic control of the House – then the best game in town in the coming weeks will be that of advising the Democrats on what they should do with their new-found power. It’s a game everyone – from famous pundits to lowly bloggers– can play: cook up your very OWN agenda for reform. “If I were Nancy Pelosi, THESE are the new laws I’d be pushing.”

I say, resist the urge, at least in public. Yes, there are things the Democrats will be able to do: investigate GOP corruption and incompetence, reform the House itself (as Nancy Pelosi has already proposed), and block any idiocies from a GOP-controlled Senate. But beyond that, they are sadly constrained. With the GOP still controlling the executive branch and Senate, progressive legislation has little chance of becoming law. So let's just keep the dream lists to ourselves, please, unless we can actually demonstrate some real electoral utility in publicizing them.

There is one big exception to this, however, something I think the Democratic Party ought not only make a priority, but a big and NOISY priority ... even if it’s doomed to death in the Senate or a quick presidential veto. Not a list, but a single broad category: election reform.

Focusing on this – making it either the biggest of priorities, or nearly so – has the virtue not only of being morally right, but pragmatically beneficial to future Democratic Party efforts even if it can’t actually be passed into law at this time.

Start with a simple bill mandating that in all federal elections, electronic voting equipment must print out a copy of the completed ballot for the voter: an audit trail. I understand one of the most elegant solutions proposed would have the printer create a Scantron card. Citizens would punch in their votes, get the printed version to check for accuracy, then drop it in a regular ballot box. The electronic vote is what would be initially counted because it's fast and automatic. But if a recount were demanded, the electronic figures would be ignored; instead, the paper Scantron cards would be re-counted and considered the final and authoritative record.

Lawyers among us might address the issue of whether or not the U.S. Congress can, under the constitution, impose such requirements on how the states conduct elections. But assuming that such a federal law would, indeed, have real force, it would be absolutely worth passing even if were doomed in the Senate or from a veto. Because once our side had acted, it would become a righteous club with which to beat the GOP on the head. That’s why it ought to be done with the biggest fanfare possible, backed up with an ongoing – long term! – campaign to constantly pound the GOP with. “Why won’t they pass this common-sense law to protect our most precious national heritage, our democratic process?” It’s one thing for the GOP to quietly sink such proposals when the Democrats don’t control either house of Congress – and, from what I’ve read, that’s exactly what they’ve done over and over again lo these past six years. But it’s quite another to try that crap when one house of Congress HAS passed the legislation, legislation simple enough to reprint in not-especially-large newspaper ads, or on the backs of doorhangers. Legislation that makes obvious sense.

(And again, as ALWAYS, the Democrats should simply expect NO help from the media – not even a modicum of real coverage. If they do give some positive coverage, consider it a bonus. But otherwise, expect either silence, or actual antagonism, and plan accordingly. Among other things, plan on bashing the media along with the GOP).

I wouldn’t stop there, of course. They ought to identify the most annoying, dangerous, or corrupt election practices the GOP has cooked up – like “robocalling”, push polls, bogus front groups – and either ban or regulate the practices, increase penalties so much that Republican operatives will no longer just think of fines as a cost of doing business, or both. Banning robocalling, for example, wouldn’t be too hard. I believe Indiana already has, by banning all automated, recorded telephone messages completely. Some other things might be much harder (regulating push polls, for example, which must necessarily entail first amendment issues), but we should at least consider how to regulate them.

Again, there may be no chance on earth of actually passing these things into law through a GOP-controlled Senate and over a Bush veto. But there would be a world of virtue – moral and practical – in at least putting the issues on the table and forcing the Republicans, on the record and as publicly as possible, to refuse to act.

Now I won’t repeat all the usual arguments about the need for reforms like these. I trust every progressive blog reader understands the insidious nature of the “Diebold vote,” and how they may be stealing votes – stealing elections, especially close ones, up and down the ballot – with astonishing ease.

But I will say that, a day away from the election, it is incredibly depressing to see the reports coming in to Josh Marshall’s TPM site and elsewhere about GOP dirty tricks all over the country ... and no truly effective weapons with which to fight back.

And then to learn that, for example, in San Diego poll workers were directed to take the machines HOME WITH THEM. To someone who knows how to do it, apparently the Diebold machines can be hacked in about 30 seconds ... and all that’s necessary is to hack one of them in order to screw up the results from all of them. (One report I saw said that researchers at Princeton University videotaped the process, proving just how absurdly easy it is). The reform above wouldn't necessarily stop this, but might well make it so marginally useful that no one would bother: they could mess up the electronic record, but the printed one would be unaffected ... and would, effectively, act as living evidence of tampering. I mean, "10,000 votes for Smith versus 9,500 for Jones" in the electronic count would look mighty suspicious when the paper count showed 12,000 for Jones versus 7,500 for Smith.

So if we have the House – finally – let’s do something about this. National health care and a repeal of the ShrubReich’s most insidious tax policies are important, but complex and absolutely doomed to failure until the Democrats control more than one half of Congress. But these electoral reforms, even if they can’t become law, will put the Republicans even more on the defensive than they already are, and set the stage for real reform as soon as we do manage to retake control of the government.