The freedom to be irresponsible is one that private citizens utilize often. It is not a right that any level of American government should exercise.

It is irresponsible governing to not have any sort of mandatory identification for voters.

This can be fixed in Oklahoma with the passing of Oklahoma Senate Bill 4, which would require voters to present identification issued by the state or federal government, or a federally recognized Indian tribe, at polling places before they can vote.

Anyone who has ever voted in Oklahoma can attest to how easy it is to vote: go in, state your name, sign next to it and vote.

Unfortunately, anyone with a phone book can claim to be you.

People who can read the voter registration list upside-down can also claim to be anyone on the page they see.

This opens the door for immense fraud.

Leaving such massive loopholes in our voting system is asking for trouble. This potential problem can be fixed cheaply.

We can save the headache of recounts, lawyers, time and money on someday’s problem if we mandate that voters have to show a photo ID at the polling place.

Even though voter fraud isn’t happening on a mass scale today, America has a history of voter fraud that includes political machines, drunken voters taken to multiple polling stations, disenfranchisement and more. In other words, this isn’t something that has never happened in America. It is prudent to prevent its return.

One incident of massive voter fraud would rush this bill through both houses of Oklahoma’s Congress.

For those who say nay: the prevention of future 9/11-style attacks is why the public allowed security measures ranging from the PATRIOT Act to heavy-duty airport security immediately after September 2001.

Why do we want to wait until there’s a voter fraud catastrophe to prevent it from happening again?

Why are we waiting to put out the fire instead of installing sprinklers?

While this is a preventative measure, it’s not a pre-emptive strike. Because we have had voter fraud in the past, SB4 is not attacking something that hasn’t ever happened and may or may not be a problem sometime in the future.

This is a documented problem that is dormant, not eradicated.

There are people who don’t have driver’s licenses, and those citizens have a right to vote.

They can get a state-issued ID card at any tag agency for $10.

In April 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the price of an ID card is not an unreasonable tax or barrier to voting in upholding Indiana’s photo-ID law.

It truly isn’t an unreasonable tax on non-drivers: it’s $10.

Drivers get their licenses renewed for 10 bucks, too. It’s the same fee for everyone.

If a citizen’s care for voting isn’t enough to make him miss part of a day of work or get a friend (or relative) to take him to the tag agent to get a state-issued ID card, how deep is his care for voting?

George Bernard Shaw said, “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”

If citizens aren’t responsible enough to invest the time and money to get an ID, then those citizens should have to suffer the consequences and not vote.

It’s irresponsible to say that since fraud is not currently a problem, it will never again be a problem.

Our Congress should put safeguards in place now, rather than look back and wish an incident was prevented.

Voter ID is that reasonable prevention method.

-Stephen Carradini is a professional writing senior.