Prosecutors: California Woman Registered Dog to Vote, Cast Ballots Twice
“The dog’s vote was successfully counted in the 2021 gubernatorial recall election but was rejected in the 2022 primary.”
In yet another sign of the California decline, an Orange County woman is facing felony charges after she allegedly registered her dog to vote and voted twice in the dog’s name in statewide elections.
According to District Attorney Todd Spitzer’s office, the woman, 62-year-old Laura Lee Yourex, successfully voted in 2021 by mail-in ballot in the Gavin Newsom gubernatorial recall election. She allegedly tried to do so again in the 2022 primary, but her ballot was rejected:
A Costa Mesa woman has been charged with five felonies for illegally registering her dog to vote and casting ballots in her dog’s name in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election and the 2022 primary election. The dog’s vote was successfully counted in the 2021 gubernatorial recall election but was rejected in the 2022 primary.
Laura Lee Yourex, 62, of Costa Mesa, 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. Yourex is scheduled to be arraigned at the Stephen K. Tamura West Justice Center in Westminster on September 9, 2025, in Department W12. She faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison if convicted on all counts.
This wasn’t a case of a county election official becoming suspicious and alerting the DA’s office of their suspicions, however. According to Spitzer’s press release, an official only notified their office after Yourex allegedly “self-reported” what she’s alleged to have done:
On October 28, 2024, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office was contacted by the Orange County Registrar of Voter’s Office 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, for the 2021 gubernatorial recall election and the 2022 primary election.
Spitzer’s office went on to remind residents of California election law related to voter registration:
According to the California Elections Code, in order to vote a person must be registered as a voter by filling out and submitting an Affidavit of Registration which 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 affidavit must be signed under penalty of perjury.
Proof of residence or identification is not required for citizens to register to vote in state elections nor is it required to cast a ballot in state elections. However, proof of residence and registration is required for first-time voters to vote in a federal election. As a result, the 2022 primary ballot cast in Maya Jean’s name was challenged and rejected. The 2021 election to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom was voted down by 61.9% of voters.
Yourex’s social media pages were also said to contain clues that the DA’s office believes will bolster their case in addition to the alleged confession:
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.
Costa Mesa Woman Charged with Five Felonies for Illegally Registering Her Dog to Vote, Casting Mail-in Ballots Sent to Dog in Two Elections
Canine’s vote in California’s 2021 gubernatorial recall election was successfully counted; 2022 primary election ballot was rejected.
Full… pic.twitter.com/XLpl8N9Vfb
— OCDA Todd Spitzer (@OCDAToddSpitzer) September 5, 2025
🗳️ ‼️ Here’s the official release from the Orange County California DA describing how this is woman registered her DOG to vote and cast two mail in ballots that were for the dog 🐶!!
Given that dogs are smarter than @GavinNewsom supporters, I presume he voted to recall Newsom? https://t.co/iH1ashPpIy pic.twitter.com/lfMGJe7R9B
— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@houmanhemmati) September 5, 2025
The discerning reader will note that if a person can successfully register their dog to vote and then vote in their name, then rest assured, illegal immigrants can fraudulently register and do it, too:
This is what happens when there’s zero voter ID requirements.
Imagine the number of illegal aliens who are voting in California’s state elections. https://t.co/LKQFERIvLh
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) September 5, 2025
A dog successfully voted in the 2021 Recall and continued to receive a ballot in the mail after it died. The owner was only caught after posting a photo of the dog wearing an "I voted" sticker. This is Newsom's California. https://t.co/kk9C7dGoGO
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) September 6, 2025
So the dog successfully cast a ballot, then kept getting a ballot mailed to it even after it died. This is outrageous. We must have Voter ID in California! https://t.co/gBZ4yovV2r pic.twitter.com/gA6QQHGyn8
— Rep. Ken Calvert (@KenCalvert) September 5, 2025
BREAKING: California election officials allowed a DOG to vote in 2021 election! Revealed in criminal charges filed today in Orange County, CA. THIS is why I'm fighting to pass the CA Voter ID law! https://t.co/LMLfGzslFZ
— Carl DeMaio (@carldemaio) September 5, 2025
And to think @LACountyRRCC is sitting on over 500,000 ineligible voters still on the rolls – dead, moved, and now animals?#FactsMatter#helpisontheway https://t.co/Y6YCAYvOdd
— Alex Villanueva (@AlexVilanueva33) September 5, 2025
So a woman registered her dog to vote, voted successfully, and was only caught 4 years later because she reported it herself?
This does not look good for the legitimacy of elections in California.
You don’t even have to prove you are human to vote.
— Logan Campbell (@LoganAMCampbell) September 5, 2025
We had 12 live mail in ballots for 1 registered voter delivered in 2020 and 8 live mail in ballots delivered in 2021 for Newsom Recall at our apartment in Santa Monica.@BillMelugin_
— Publius (@OcrazioCornPop) September 5, 2025
In 2020, Elizabeth Warren endorsed voter fraud and said her dog will be voting Democrat.
"Bailey is definitely going to vote…"
After I highlighted her comments, Warren called me a “right-wing troll.”
Look at what just happened in California:
pic.twitter.com/UBZhUNz4iW https://t.co/diyiRlARL8— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) September 5, 2025
And yet…Orange County refused to provide @CivilRights with voter registration records they are required to produce on demand. We had to sue! What next, someone’s pet llama 🦙 or support peacock 🦚 on the rolls?! We will find the whole darn menagerie by the time we are done!🤨 https://t.co/4e4MbTGqWu
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) September 6, 2025
And, the Orange County Registrar of Voters, Bob Page, and friend of California Secretary of State has been touting time and again how safe and secure Orange County elections are 🤣. We'll see Mr. Page in court. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 https://t.co/IkzavSoFnE
— Attorney Michael E. Gates (@MichaelGatesESQ) September 6, 2025
Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin quipped, “One must now wonder – how many animals will be successfully voting on California’s redistricting measure (Prop 50) this fall?”
It’s hard to say, but one thing’s for sure: the “Bark the Vote” campaign should be… interesting.
– Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via X. –
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Comments
What’s the big deal here? “Maya Jean” was surely as discerning a voter as many other CA mail-in voters. /s
Impossible. We have been repeatedly assured that voter fraud is a myth,
There are two or three dogs who post comments on Legal Insurrection. I wonder if they are registered to vote.
Woooof, Senorita!
“Woof! Woof! That’s my other dog impression.”
“Imagine the number of illegal aliens who are voting in California’s state elections.”
That’s a feature not a bug. That’s exactly what California Democrats want. They even made it illegal to require voter ID.
Senate Bill 1174 bans all local jurisdictions from enacting any ordinance, charter provision, or regulation that requires voters to show ID when casting a ballot.
I noticed when I voted in person in California, I was never asked for ID. When a family member moved out of my house to another state that person was still listed on the roll at the polling place years later. So what’s the big deal? Why prosecute Laura Lee Yourex for doing exactly what state officials want? If they cared about election integrity, they would require voter ID which is the case all over the world. US elections are mostly a cruel joke as by design it’s easy to cheat. In Texas when I vote, I have to show ID. I’m against all absentee balloting, and even early voting. Show up on election day to cast a paper ballot. No machines. Nothing connected to the Internet.
Not only do I have to show ID, I have to vote via provisional ballot, because I don’t have a single ID that is an exact match with my voter registration – or with each other. The vote still counts, though.
“On October 28, 2024, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office was contacted by the Orange County Registrar of Voter’s Office 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,”
Me: Dollars to doughnuts she bragged about it on TikTok or something.
“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.”
Me: Called it.
Orange County enraged that the dog was not an illegal alien.
At least it was an oppressed Chihuahua, not a colonialist Corgi.
The sad thing is that this doesn’t even come as a surprise. And, of course, the Commiefornia authorities don’t give a damn.
My parents were conservatives from the greater Chicago area
They voted Republican in every election up until they day they died
After that they voted Democrat
Use RICO to permanently abolish the Democrat Crime cabal
No other criminal enterprise would be left intact. MAGA and “Republicans” GROW A SET Democrats conspired with hostile foreign regimes to not only import as many CRIMINAL MIGRANTS AS POSSIBLE during the Kenyan’s 3rd term, they conspired to EMPTY PRISONS AND MENTAL INSTITUTIONS and FLY THOSE PEOPLE HERE in midnight flight sponsored by our traitors in the deep state. Destinations included HPN (Westchester NY) This is the type of thing that DIRECTLY led to the rape/murder of Jocelyn Nungary, a 12 year old Texas girl, and countless others. It’s unlikely the Democrat crime cabal could have disappeared the mountains of evidence associated with this facet of the Democrat crime cabal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) can apply to immigration crimes if they’re part of a pattern of racketeering activity conducted by an organized enterprise. RICO targets ongoing criminal enterprises engaging in specific predicate offenses, like fraud, extortion, or trafficking. Some immigration-related crimes, such as visa fraud, human smuggling, or document trafficking, could qualify as predicate offenses if they meet RICO’s criteria: a structured group, repeated illegal acts over time, and an impact on interstate or foreign commerce. For example, a criminal organization systematically smuggling migrants or forging immigration documents for profit could face RICO charges. However, standalone immigration violations, like illegal entry without an organized scheme, typically wouldn’t trigger RICO. Prosecutors must prove the enterprise’s structure and a pattern (at least two predicate acts within 10 years). Penalties include up to 20 years per racketeering count, fines, and asset forfeiture.
It’s time we start worrying about what kind of world we’re going to leave for Keith Richards…
Proof that CA is going to the dogs.
The same song repeats for several topics. Science, for example.
Experts: Our paper publishing practices are perfect.
Some Guy: I had a paper on heteronormative quantum gravity published to prove a point that many published papers are fake and unchecked.
Experts: Once we have prosecuted and jailed this admitted fraud, our paper publishing practices will be perfect.
Or voting in this (and other) cases.
Experts: Our voting lists and practices are perfect.
Some guy: I registered my cat to vote, and get 57 extra mail-in ballots at my house for people I don’t recognize.
Experts: Once we have prosecuted and imprisoned this unique felon, our voting lists and practices will be perfect.
“On the
InternetDemocrat-redesigned US electoral system, nobody knows you’re a dog.”You shoulda seen that dog drive a stick!
I miss the subtle rectifying clues that used to be available from in-person voting… like when “Olaf Sørenson” turned out to be a fat chick with purple hair and a nosering.
When my mother was in a nursing home, the mail ballots would just accumulate at the front desk. According to the voting records, my mother voted twice after she was out of the state, and once after she was dead. The records don’t tell for whom she voted.
Odd how the thing that never happens keeps happening.
My expectation is that IF she is found guilty by a California judge or jury that she will be given probation and no jail time or fines. After all, this is the Peoples Democrat Republic of California. Honest and legitimate election results are not expected.
Subotai Bahadur
They’ll buy her a new dog.
Some registered breed.
Voter registration list maintenance isn’t sexy but it is necessary and supposed to be required. In many areas until lawsuits are brought to compel jurisdictions to meet their obligation they largely either ignore or defer doing so.
I think we’ve discovered who wielded Poopy Biden’s autopen. It was actually Biden’s vicious Shepard Major.
Only a petty offense….
Right.
One dog wasn’t a level of fraud that could statistically affect an election.
Nothing to see here, case closed.
Still secure and trustworthy!
A failed pun, alas…
They’re registering the dogs, they’re registering the cats, they’re taking peoples’ pets and registering them.
Is that better or worse than eating them?
What if they’re eating them after they vote?
That thing that never happens keeps happening.
Cali elections have gone to the dogs? Oh no! Anyway ….
Detective: “Yourex registered your dog to vote and it did.”
You: “That’s why she’s my ex ….