Cadbury, a 4-year-old Mountain Cur, shakes off after being in the Fassnight Park Pool during the annual dog swim on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025.
Costa Mesa, California – An Orange County woman is facing felony charges after prosecutors say she registered her dog to vote and managed to cast two ballots, one of which was counted.
Laura Lee Yourex, 62, of Costa Mesa, has been charged with five felonies tied to voter fraud, including perjury and offering a forged document. According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Yourex registered her dog, Maya Jean, under California’s voter rolls and then submitted mail-in ballots in the dog’s name during the 2021 gubernatorial recall election and the 2022 primary.
One of those ballots — the 2021 recall vote — was counted. The second, filed during the primary, was rejected after being flagged as invalid.
The case came to light after Yourex reported her own actions to the county registrar in October 2024. By then, she had already posted about the scheme on social media. In January 2022, she shared a photo of her dog wearing an “I Voted” sticker next to a completed ballot. Nearly two years later, she posted another image showing a ballot addressed to Maya Jean, even after the dog had died.
Prosecutors say the investigation confirmed that she knowingly registered her pet, voted in two elections, and later publicized the fraud online. She now faces up to six years in prison if convicted. She is scheduled to appear in court next week.
California’s election system requires residents to provide personal information and attest to their citizenship under penalty of perjury in order to register. But proof of identity isn’t required for most state elections, which explains why the fraudulent recall ballot slipped through while the 2022 primary ballot was flagged and rejected.
The 2021 recall election itself failed, with Gov. Gavin Newsom defeating the effort to unseat him by a wide margin. Prosecutors have not said how Yourex cast the fraudulent votes or which party, if any, stood to benefit.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office reminded the public that election integrity is taken seriously, urging residents to report suspected irregularities to its Election Fraud Hotline at 657-707-4048.
