A Costa Mesa woman who got a ballot counted for her dog now pays for Orange County billboards warning that voter fraud is a crime after pleading guilty.
Laura Lee Yourex registered her pet dog, Maya Jean Yourex, as a voter and submitted mail-in ballots in the animal’s name. One of those ballots was accepted and counted in California’s 2021 gubernatorial recall election.
She pleaded guilty on April 10 to one count of knowingly registering a nonexistent person to vote. As part of the deal, Yourex agreed to pay $1,500 toward four anti-voter-fraud billboards that feature her late dog’s image. The case was fully dismissed after she completed the agreement.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office put the signs up along the 55 and 22 freeways. They will stay up through California’s November 3 midterm election. The message is blunt.
"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."
That creative penalty followed a years-long stretch of alleged misconduct that began with a simple registration form. It also exposed how little stands between a fake voter and a counted ballot in California.
In a sworn statement tied to her plea, Yourex admitted the core act. Daily Mail reporting carried the language she signed.
"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 then cast ballots under Maya Jean’s name. The first went out for the 2021 recall aimed at Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Officials counted it. Voters rejected the recall by 61.9 percent.
A second ballot went out for the 2022 primary. That one did not sail through. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office later stated the outcome clearly.
"As a result, the 2022 primary ballot cast in Maya Jean’s name was challenged and rejected."
Social media posts helped surface the scheme. One photo showed the dog wearing an “I voted” sticker beside a mail-in ballot. Another post, shared after the dog had died, paired the animal’s identification tag with a vote-by-mail ballot. An alleged caption read, “maya is still getting her ballot.”
The Orange County Registrar of Voters flagged the alleged fraud to prosecutors on October 28, 2024. Criminal charges followed in September 2025. Yourex initially faced five felony counts.
Those charges included perjury, filing a false document, casting a ballot when not entitled, and registering a nonexistent person, according to charging details reported at the time. The Washington Examiner noted she faced the possibility of years in prison before the plea resolved the case.
The final agreement reduced the matter to a single count. Yourex paid the $1,500 for the four signs. Prosecutors dropped the rest and dismissed the case. The New York Post reported she avoided prison through that deal and that the dog’s image now appears on the Orange County billboards.
Her attorney framed the episode as a misguided stunt meant to prove a point about election security. Jaime Coulter said Yourex regretted the method even as she claimed a larger purpose.
"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 demonstration worked in one narrow sense. A dog got on the rolls. A ballot in that dog’s name was accepted and counted in a statewide election. California does not require proof of residence or identification to register or to vote, a fact that made the stunt possible.
The timeline itself tells the story of delayed accountability. Registration occurred around May 7, 2020. The counted ballot came in 2021. The rejected ballot came in 2022. The registrar’s alert did not go to the district attorney until late October 2024. Felony charges landed in September 2025. The guilty plea and billboard payment closed it out on April 10, with formal dismissal following.
For years, a nonexistent voter stayed on the books long enough to generate real paper. Mail-in ballots made the process remote and hard to challenge in real time. Only after public posts and an official review did prosecutors move.
Orange County’s billboard campaign now turns the same dog into a roadside warning. Drivers on the 55 and 22 will see Maya Jean’s image paired with a simple rule: if you cannot legally vote, do not vote. The district attorney’s office promises to prosecute those who break it.
Lawful voters and taxpayers should not need a pet’s face on a freeway sign to learn that lesson. When registration skips basic identity checks, fraud stops being theoretical. It becomes a dog with an “I voted” sticker and a ballot that actually counted.
