Woman pleads guilty to registering her dog to vote in California election

A woman in Costa Mesa, California, has entered a guilty plea for registering her dog to vote in a pair of Southern California elections.

Laura Lee Yourex, 62, has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor knowing registration of a nonexistent person to vote. She agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors which saw felony counts of perjury, procuring or offering a false or forged document to be filed, registered or recorded, and not being entitled to vote at an election dismissed, according to the Los Angeles Times.

She registered her dog, Maya Jean, for both the 2021 California gubernatorial election to recall Governor Gavin Newsom, and the 2022 primary election.

The dog's vote was counted in 2021 but was rejected for the 2022 election.

According to Yourex's attorney, Jamie Coulter, she reported her actions to then-Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates, who then alerted the Orange County Registrar of Voters. Coulter said Yourex was trying to prove a point by registering her dog to vote.

"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," the attorney said at the time. "Ms. Yourex never hid from taking personal responsibility as she self-reported the matter."

Under California law, a person has to submit an affidavit of registration that includes identifying information, including their name, residence, mailing address, date of birth, political party preference, and a certification that they're citizens of the U.S.

The document also requires a signature that, if faked, can be prosecuted as perjury.

California doesn't require residence or individual ID for voting in state elections, but any first-time voters in federal elections — like the presidential election — must provide proof they are registered to vote and that they live in the state.

The Department of Justice said in a statement announcing charges against Yourex in 2025 that it had collected evidence suggesting she had illegally registered her dog to vote.

"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," the DOJ wrote.

Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen said at the time that the state needed to do more to ensure situations like Yourex's are not repeated.

"The fact that a dog can register and voted twice tells you the system is not working, and it's broken," she said. "If we can cross reference the addresses and names, if there's a name that could be suspicious, we can say, 'Wait a minute. Let's flag this.'"

Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page had a different perspective, according to Fox 11. He argued that the system works as intended and catches the vast majority of fraudulent votes, including Yourex's dog in 2022.

"In the last election there were 571 voters who cast ballots that were flagged," he said.

Nahal Kazemi, a Chapman University law professor, told Fox 11 that the situation proved that the system does work.

"At least the second time the dog's vote was cast it was identified as an ineligible voter," he said. "That's what we expect to see. To treat [voter fraud] as the biggest problem in our electoral system is misguided."

Yourex's sentencing will take place in October.