Democrats in Congress and national election reform

Now that there is a Democratic majority-elect in Congress, we need to consider what they might seek to accomplish. One thing that has been on the back burner for some time is national election reform legislation. To some, the idea that a Democratic Congress will enact election reform legislation is a fabulous notion. Me, I am quaking in my boots. I think it was the day after the election last week, that Common Cause pushed out a mass email asking people to sign a petition in support of an election reform bill proposed by Congressman Rush Holt: H.R.550. Other national organizations will be jumping on the H.R. 550 bandwagon faster than you can say, "(The concentration of power) is precisely the definition of despotic government." On this site, however, we have consistently lobbied against this particular piece of legislation. We have asked people to NOT sign the endless series of petitions sent by Common Cause, True Majority, Working Assets, etc. etc. We have suggested that We the People instead lobby in our own States for real election reform, but if pushed to the national level, for legislation that is more appropriate to the type of decentralized system of checks and balances that we need to support the American Republic. We have suggested that we consider legislation that supports hand counting paper ballots for federal elections. H.R. 550 has been called into question by some of the brightest minds in the election integrity movement. It is often referred to as HAVA II (Help America Vote Act), because, as written, it will inevitably lead to more American taxpayer dollars being poured into the highly questionable, corporatized e-voting industry, as they purportedly pursue new technological innovations that will allow their shoddy equipment to produce so-called "voter verified" paper records of votes cast. The thing is, we already have paper records; they're called BALLOTS. Any voting system with integrity must start and end with paper ballots, and we don't need no stinking corporate industry with questionable ethics and business practices, nevermind one with less than substandard products, to innovate this for us. There is no question about it, we absolutely MUST eliminate these high-risk e-voting products from our nation's election systems. Enough consumer lawsuits might do the trick. Or possibly we could hold the government accountable for its Ponzi scheme that led us into this fraudulent-filled election nightmare. But jumping on national legislation that will further centralize power and remove local and state control over our elections is the wrong way to go.