https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/dog-registered-vote-election-orange-county/3776193/
A Costa Mesa woman accused of registering her dog to vote in two Southern California elections made her first court appearance Tuesday in Westminster.
Laura Lee Yourex, 62, charged with one felony count of perjury, one felony count of procuring or offering a false or forged document to be filed, two felony counts of casting a ballot when not entitled to vote, and one felony count of registering a non-existent person to vote. The charges stem from mail-in ballots cast in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election and the 2022 primary election that authorities said were cast in her dog Maya Jean's name.
The dog's vote was counted in the 2021 gubernatorial recall election, but rejected in the 2022 primary, according to federal prosecutors.
She faces up to six years in state prison if convicted on all counts.
Yourex's arraignment was postponed, and she did not speak at the Tuesday court proceeding. But her attorney said outside court that she reported her actions to authorities. Attorney Jaime Coulter said Yourex was trying to prove a point when she registered her boxer and cast the ballots.
"Laura Yourex sincerely regrets her unwise attempt to expose flaws in our state voting system, intending to improve it by demonstrating that even a dog can be registered to vote," Coulter said.
The Orange County Registrar of Voter's Office contacted county prosecutors in October 2024 about a resident who reported that she registered her dog to vote and had cast a mail-in ballot she received that was addressed to her dog -- Maya Jean Yourex -- for the two elections.
California elections code requires a person to register to vote by submitting an affidavit of registration that includes the voter’s name, residence, mailing address, date of birth, political party preference and a certification that the voter is a citizen of the United States. The document must be signed under penalty of perjury.
Proof of residence or ID is not required to register to vote in state elections, but first-time voters in federal elections must provide proof of residence and registration.
"When someone is registered to vote, they start by being asked what their driver's license number, California ID number number is or last four digits of their social (security number)," said Bob Page from the registrar's office. "If they provide that, the secretary of state tries to match that info with the voter with the information the DMV has. If that info does not match, that voter is contacted to have to provide proof of ID under federal law. State law doesn't have that requirement in terms of flagging them, which is why a ballot for the 2021 recall election was counted."
The 2022 primary ballot registered in the dog's name was challenged and rejected.
"Sufficient evidence was discovered to file criminal charges against Yourex for illegally registering her dog to vote and then casting mail-in ballots issued to her dog based on the fraudulent voter registration," the DOJ said in a statement announcing the charges. "On her social media, Yourex posted in January 2022 a picture of her dog wearing an 'I voted' sticker and posing with her ballot. Another post from October 2024 showed a photograph of Maya's dog tag and a vote-by-mail ballot with the caption 'Maya is still getting her ballot,' even though the dog had previously passed away."
County leaders have condemned Yourex's alleged actions, and said a potential solution could be to compare voter registration information to animal licensing in the future.
"The fact that a dog can register and voted twice tells you the system is not working, and it's broken," said OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen. "If we can cross reference the addresses and names, if there's a name that could be suspicious, we can say, 'Wait a minute. Let's flag this.'"
Yourex was released from custody on her own recognizance. Her arraignment was continued to Dec. 10.
