Costa Mesa’s voter rolls literally went to the dogs when prosecutors say a local woman registered her boxer to vote, then mailed in ballots under the pup’s name. Laura Lee Yourex, 63, pleaded guilty on April 10 to a misdemeanor count of knowingly registering a nonexistent person to vote and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 16 in Orange County. According to prosecutors, the dog, Maya Jean Yourex, was linked to ballots in the 2021 gubernatorial recall and the 2022 primary; one ballot was ultimately counted, and the other was later flagged and rejected.
As reported by the Los Angeles Times, Yourex entered a guilty plea on April 10 to the single misdemeanor charge. Under the deal, prosecutors agreed to drop several felony counts, turning what had been a high-stakes criminal case into a far narrower conviction that still carries real legal consequences.
The case first moved into criminal court in September 2025, when the Orange County District Attorney filed five felony counts, the Office of the District Attorney said in a press release. Investigators alleged Yourex registered her boxer, Maya Jean Yourex, as a voter and mailed ballots in the dog’s name for both the 2021 gubernatorial recall and the 2022 primary. According to the DA’s office, the recall ballot was counted while the 2022 primary ballot was challenged during review and rejected. The press release listed perjury and procuring or offering a false or forged document among the original charges and noted that a conviction on all counts could have resulted in a sentence of up to six years in prison.
The whole saga surfaced after Yourex reportedly self-reported to the Orange County Registrar of Voters in October 2024, ABC7 reported. Prosecutors cited social media posts as part of the trail of evidence, including a January 2022 photo of Maya sporting an "I voted" sticker and an October 2024 image of the dog’s tag next to a mail-in ballot, captioned "maya is still getting her ballot." Local outlets also reported that Yourex’s attorney said she intended to highlight what she saw as weaknesses in the voter registration system, a stunt that ended up carrying more bite than bark in court.
How the system responded
According to the California Secretary of State, voter registration functions as an affidavit, and first-time voters in federal contests can be required to verify their identity before a ballot is counted. Orange County’s registrar told reporters that in the last election the county flagged hundreds of ballots and that many voters later resolved the issues by providing requested documentation, as NBC Los Angeles reported. Election officials and legal experts say those follow-up checks are designed to catch irregularities, including cases like the one involving Maya’s improperly issued ballot.
What’s next
Under the plea agreement, Yourex is set to be sentenced on Oct. 16, 2026, the Los Angeles Times reports. Prosecutors had originally filed five felony counts and said a conviction on all of them could have carried a prison term of up to six years, as outlined in the county’s press release. With those felonies now dismissed, the judge will decide the appropriate penalty for the single misdemeanor when Yourex returns to court in October.
Legal notes
The misdemeanor Yourex admitted to involves knowingly registering a nonexistent person to vote, a crime tied to the affidavit-of-registration process and the perjury rules that apply to signing it. As the California Secretary of State explains, if a registrant fails to provide required identification for a federal election, the ballot can be set aside until verification occurs. Officials say that safeguard is how the 2022 ballot issued in Maya’s name was identified as a problem and ultimately rejected.
