A Costa Mesa woman is charged with registering her dog, Maya, to vote — and OC’s Registrar confirms the animal has been removed from the rolls.
In a case that has raised eyebrows across California, Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page confirmed that Maya the dog has been purged from the voter registration database.
The move follows an investigation and coordination with the Orange County District Attorney’s office, which filed felony charges against a local resident for registering Maya and casting ballots in her name.
According to public records and media reports, 62-year-old Laura Lee Yourex of Costa Mesa is accused of registering her dog, Maya Jean Yourex, in the 2021 gubernatorial recall and again in the 2022 primary.
Prosecutors say the 2021 ballot was accepted, but the 2022 submission was rejected. The charges include perjury, registering a non-existent person to vote, and casting a ballot when not entitled.
The Registrar’s Page told reporters that his office acted promptly after receiving a tip in October that a fictitious voter may have been registered and voted. “We take voter fraud very seriously.”
This case adds tension amid broader federal scrutiny of Orange County voter rolls. In June 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Page’s office for failure to provide removal records of non-citizens and accused the county of violating federal election law.
Meanwhile, the county Board of Supervisors has directed the registrar to scan the voter rolls for other non-human registrations.
As the legal process moved forward, the case highlights how state and local election systems must guard against absurd exploitation – even by four-legged restraints.
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