Count on Indiana’s tough new requirements for renewing or obtaining a driver’s license to be about as well received as the last round of license branch closings. When the new rules go into effect next year, state officials should be prepared to respond quickly to the inevitable confusion and frustration ahead.

In the meantime, Hoosiers should ask who actually benefits from the costly requirements.

Bureau of Motor Vehicles officials last week announced the SecureID initiative, which eliminates branch-issued licenses and IDs. While Hoosiers might agree that security issues and identity theft threats justify greater scrutiny in issuing driver’s licenses, the actual implementation will have many wondering whether the risks are worth the cost to the state and the inconvenience to residents. Consider:

•Everyone renewing a license or identification card after Jan. 1 will have to present a minimum of four pieces of identification to prove identity, Social Security number, Indiana residency and lawful U.S. status.

•Licenses will no longer be issued at branches but mailed after a security check is completed.

•Teen drivers or anyone who doesn’t receive bank statements or utility bills listing their own name and current address will need to be accompanied by someone older than 18 – with proper ID and residency documentation – who can sign a residency affidavit for the driver’s license applicant.

•Anyone whose name has changed from his or her birth certificate (married women, for example) must present proof of the name change. Someone who has changed names multiple times, through marriage and divorce, must show proof of each name change.

While the extensive documentation is required only once, it will inevitably present a hardship to some Hoosiers, particularly senior citizens not accustomed to the procedures and those least likely to have easy access to birth certificates and other acceptable forms of ID.

Another concern is the additional hurdle established for Indiana voters, who already face the most stringent requirements of any voters in the nation in spite of no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

The cumbersome process of applying for or renewing a state ID card surely will discourage some who depend on those cards – out-of-state college students and, again, senior citizens – from bothering to vote.

Jim Harper, director of Information Policy Studies at the Washington-based Cato Institute, said in an interview that the arguments for stricter ID requirements fall apart rather quickly under scrutiny.

In the case of the 9/11 terrorists, 17 of 19 hijackers used their own names. Al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations intentionally use people with no criminal record, he said.

In the case of identity fraud, a Department of Homeland Security study found that as much as 75 percent of cases could be traced to online activity, not to the misuse of some form of identification, according to Harper, a member of the DHS privacy advisory council.

Ironically, the risk for abuse becomes greater when a single source of ID takes on more purposes than proof of driving privileges, he said.

“Unthinkingly, we’ve wandered into this idea that (a driver’s license) should be one card for all things. What’s next? A payment card? An insurance card? It’s bureaucratic mission creep.”

Well-intended state and federal officials have been pushed by a security industry intent on selling its high-tech identity solutions.

Indiana is among the states that have signed lucrative contracts with the out-of-state corporations, some of which have held conferences to coach BMV officials on how to convince lawmakers that tougher requirements are needed.

In other states, elected officials have objected to the costly and onerous demands made by the Real ID Act, which required states to issue a federally approved driver’s license that would become part of a national database and would be necessary for airline travel.

Groups as diverse as the American Civil Liberties Union and Gun Owners of America opposed the law, criticizing it as an attack on privacy rights.

The Obama administration is working to repeal and replace it with a cheaper, less-rigorous law – Pass ID – with state costs offset by federal grants.

Indiana officials, however, note that the state’s SecureID program “will exceed the security requirements” of the proposed federal law.

Indiana residents should ask whether the risks of identity theft and security breaches are truly great enough to justify the cost of identification procedures beyond those required elsewhere or, at the very least, be prepared for the inevitable BMV troubles ahead.