California woman’s dog voted twice

(by Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times) – An Orange County woman faces five felony charges after she was accused of…fraud by registering her dog to vote and illegally casting ballots for the pooch in two elections, authorities said.

Laura Lee Yourex, 62, of Costa Mesa, allegedly mailed in ballots registered under her dog’s name, Maya Jean Yourex, in the 2021 gubernatorial recall election and the 2022 primary election, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. The 2021 ballot was accepted, while the 2022 ballot was rejected, prosecutors said.

Yourex allegedly bragged about the feat on social media, sharing a picture of Maya toting an “I Voted” sticker and posing with the illegal ballot in January 2022, prosecutors said. In October, Yourex posted a photo 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 passed away.

Yourex has been charged with one count of registering a nonexistent person to vote, one count of perjury, one count of procuring a false or forged document to be filed and two counts of casting a ballot when not entitled to vote, prosecutors said. Yourex is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.

If convicted as charged, Yourex faces up to six years in state prison.

The Orange County Registrar of Voters [Bob Page] contacted the district attorney’s office on Oct. 28, 2024 after [Yourex] self-reported that she had registered her dog to vote and cast two ballots in her dog’s name, authorities said.

A view of an official Orange County Registrar of Voters ballot drop box at Carl Thornton Park in Santa Ana on Oct. 13, 2020. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

California residents must sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury to register to vote. While proof of residence is required for first-time voters to cast a ballot in a federal election, it is not required to cast a ballot in a state election. [California voter registration for state elections does not require proof of residence or identification, which made it possible for a ballot to be issued under the dog’s name. The fraudulent registration went undetected due to limited safeguards for state election registration].

This is why the dog’s ballot for the 2021 state election to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom was accepted, while the 2022 midterm elections ballot [a federal election] was rejected, prosecutors said.

The recall attempt was ultimately voted down by 61.9% of voters. It’s not clear how “Maya” voted.

In June, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page for allegedly refusing to provide the Justice Department with records pertaining to the removal of people lacking documentation from its voter registration list. The Justice Department has sent letters to at least 26 states requesting details about voters, election processes and election officials.

In August, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to refuse to comply with the DOJ’s demands to turn over the voter registration records of 17 individuals who were ineligible to cast a ballot but had appeared on the county’s voter registration rolls.

The O.C. Registrar of Voters faced [criticism] over the integrity of the 2024 election after…allegations of forged signatures, non-U.S. citizens voting and duplicated ballots circulated on social media.

In January, the Orange County Grand Jury published a report concluding that the Registrar exhibited the “highest level of integrity” in the 2024 election and that there was no evidence of voter fraud.

Times staff writers Hannah Fry and Gabriel San Román contributed to this report.

From a Los Angeles Times report published on Sept. 5. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.