Orange County woman charged for illegally registering dog to vote in 2021, 2022 elections

An Orange County woman has been charged with illegally registering her dog to vote in California elections in 2021 and 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Laura Lee Yourex, a 62-year-old Costa Mesa resident, was charged with five felonies on Friday after she registered her dog, Maya, to vote in the 2021 gubernatorial recall election and the 2022 primary election, prosecutors said.

"The dog's vote was successfully counted in the 2021 gubernatorial recall election but was rejected in the 2022 primary," said a release from the DOJ's office. 

Prosecutors say that the Orange County District Attorney's Office was contacted by the Orange County Registrar of Voter's Office in October of 2024 about a resident who "self-reported that she had registered her dog to vote and had in fact cast a mail-in ballot she received addressed to her dog, Maya Jean Yourex."

Investigators with the district attorney's Bureau of Investigation found sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Yourex, the release said. They said that they discovered photos on Yourex's social media pages posted in January 2022 that showed Maya wearing an "I voted" sticker while posing with a voter's ballot. Another post in Oct. 2024 showed Maya's dog tag and a vote-by-mail ballot, which came with the caption "maya is still getting her ballot," even though she had previously passed away, prosecutors said. 

California Elections Code states that in order to vote, a person must be registered as a voter by filling out and submitting an Affidavit of Registration that includes the voter's name, residence, address, date of birth, certification that the voter is a U.S. citizen and political party preference. The affidavit is also signed under penalty of perjury. 

The DOJ's release said that proof of residence or identification is not required for citizens to register to vote in a state election, nor is it required to cast a ballot. Proof of residence and registration are both required for first-time voters in a federal election, they said. 

"As a result, the 2022 primary ballot cast in Maya Jean's name was challenged and rejected," the release said. "The 2021 election to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom was voted down by 61.9% of voters."

Yourex was charged with one count of perjury, one count of procuring or offering a false or forged document to be filed, one count of registering a non-existent person to vote and two counts of casting a ballot when not entitled to vote — all of which are felonies. If convicted as charged, Yourex faces a minimum of six years in state prison, prosecutors said.