OC Woman Who Registered Dog To Vote Avoids Jail, Must Foot Bill For Voter Fraud Billboards

COSTA MESA, CA — A Costa Mesa woman who registered her dog to vote and even cast ballots in her dog's name had her case dismissed after entering a guilty plea, prosecutors said Thursday.

Laura Lee Yourex, 64, who was originally charged with five felonies, had her case dismissed after completing the terms of a plea agreement reached in April, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

As part of the agreement, Yourex was required to pay $1,500 for four billboards along the Costa Mesa (55) and Garden Grove (22) freeways warning against voter fraud.

Originally, Yourex could have faced up to six years in prison if convicted.

The billboards feature a photograph Yourex posted on social media of her dog, Maya Jean Yourex, posing with a vote-by-mail ballot while wearing an "I voted" sticker.

"Don't be a dog. Voter Fraud is a Crime. If you can't legally vote, don't vote. The Orange County District Attorney's Office will prosecute," the billboards state.

They also display the district attorney's election fraud hotline, 714- 721-7578.

Yourex pleaded guilty April 10 to misdemeanor knowing registration of a nonexistent person to vote. Prosecutors dismissed four felony counts and reduced the remaining felony to a misdemeanor as part of the agreement.

In her written plea agreement, Yourex admitted registering her dog as a voter in May 2020, knowing that the animal was not eligible to vote.

"On or about 5/7/20, in Orange County, I did willfully and unlawfully cause an animal, to wit: a dog, to be registered as a voter, knowing that animal was not entitled to registration as a nonexistent person, and mailed and delivered that affidavit to a county elections official," she wrote.

The case dismissal comes after Yourex illegally casted ballots in her dog's name in the 2021 gubernatorial recall election and 2022 primary election.

She was charged Aug. 28, 2025, with single counts of perjury, procuring or offering a false of forged document to be filed and knowing registration of nonexistent person to vote and two counts of not being entitled to vote in an election, all felonies.

Prosecutors say Yourex informed the Orange County Registrar of Voters in October that she had registered her dog, Maya Jean Yourex, to vote.

According to prosecutors, the 2022 primary ballot cast in the dog's name was challenged and rejected by the Registrar because proof of residence and registration required for first-time voters was not shown.

Prosecutors said Yourex posted a photo on social media of her dog in Jan. 2022 with an "I voted" sticker. She also apparently posted in Oct. 2024 a photograph of a vote-by-mail ballot captioned: "Maya is still getting her ballot," despite the dog dying.

When Yourex was charged in September 2025, her attorney, Jaime Coulter, said the defendant had intended to expose weaknesses in the state's voter registration 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 in a statement at the time. "Ms. Yourex never hid from taking personal responsibility as she self-reported the matter to the Orange County Registrar of Voters, intending to have them investigate and ultimately improve our voting registration system."

Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page previously told City News Service that former Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates had alerted him to the case after speaking with Yourex.

"I received an email from former Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates who said a voter talked to him and shared that her dog received a ballot," Page said. "I quickly referred that to the district attorney to investigate."

Chapman University law professor Nahal Kazemi previously said the case demonstrated that safeguards against election fraud can work.

"There isn't a lot of voter fraud and the system has checks in place, so if something anomalous happens it is possible to catch it," Kazemi said. "To treat it as the biggest problem in our electoral system is misguided."

The billboards were required to run through the Nov. 3 general election, according to prosecutors.

Anyone with information about suspected election-related irregularities was asked to contact the Orange County District Attorney's Election Fraud Hotline at 714-721-7578.

City News Service contributed to this report.