Woman Facing Felony Charges for Registering Her Dog to Vote and Casting 2 Ballots

One California woman took the “Get Out the Vote” campaign a little too seriously when she registered her dog, Maya, to vote. Laura Lee Yourex, of Costa Mesa, California, has been charged with five felony counts for illegally casting ballots in her dog’s name in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election and the 2022 midterm primary election, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Yourex allegedly mailed in ballots under her pup’s full name, Maya Jean Yourex. In a statement, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said: “The dog’s vote was successfully counted in the 2021 gubernatorial recall election but was rejected in the 2022 primary.”

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The press release continues, adding that Yourex “has been 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. “

Reading this, other dog parents are probably wondering: How the heck did she get away with this? As the district ’s office wrote in the statement, proof of residence or ID is not required to vote in a state election in the state of California. So, Maya was able to successfully vote in the 2021 election for the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom, which California residents rejected by 61.9 percent. Both address and ID are required, however, to vote in a federal election, which is how Maya’s ballot was flagged and did not count in the 2022 primary.

The Orange County District Attorney’s office said they conducted an investigation and found “sufficient evidence” that Yourex was “casting mail-in ballots issued to her dog based on the fraudulent voter registration.“ She wasn’t exactly hiding it; in January 2022, she reportedly posted a photo of Maya wearing an “I voted“ sticker alongside her ballot. And last October, the DA said she posted a photo of Maya’s dog tag and a vote-by-mail ballot, alongside the caption, “Maya is still getting her ballot.” (Maya had previously passed away.)

Yourex is scheduled to be arraigned at the Stephen K. Tamura West Justice Center in Westminster, California tomorrow. The district attorney’s office asks anyone who has reports of “election-related irregularities” to call their Election Fraud Hotline at 657-707-4048 or by emailing 2024.elections@ocdapa.org.

Kinship has contacted the Orange County District Attiorney’s office for comment. For now, though, we have no idea how Maya voted or what her political leanings were... she may have voted illegally, but her opinions were her own and none of our business.