A woman from Costa Mesa, California, has pleaded guilty to registering her dog to vote in two elections. Laura Lee Yourex, 62, admitted to the misdemeanour of knowingly registering a non-existent person to vote.
Yourex registered her dog, Maya Jean, for the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election and the 2022 primary election. The dog's vote was counted in 2021 but rejected in 2022.
Her attorney, Jamie Coulter, said Yourex self-reported the matter to authorities in an attempt to expose flaws in the voting system. "Laura Yourex sincerely regrets her unwise attempt to expose flaws in our state voting system, intending to improve it by demonstrating that even a dog can be registered to vote," Coulter said.
The Department of Justice noted that Yourex posted on social media a picture of her dog wearing an 'I voted' sticker in 2022, and in 2024 a photo of the dog's tag with a ballot, despite the dog having died. Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen said the case showed the system was "broken", while Registrar of Voters Bob Page argued it worked, as the dog's vote was flagged in 2022.
