A Costa Mesa woman who registered her dog to vote, and cast ballots in the animal’s name in 2021 and 2022, has been sentenced to pay for anti-voter-fraud billboards, prosecutors said Thursday.
Laura Lee Yourex, 64, was charged in September 2025 with five felonies after posting a photo to social media showing her dog posing with a ballot while wearing an “I voted sticker,” Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the Orange County district attorney’s office, wrote in a statement.
The dog’s vote was counted in the 2021 recall election against Gov. Gavin Newsom and then rejected in the 2022 primary election. In October 2024, the Orange County registrar of voters office flagged the case to the district attorney.
“Following an investigation by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation, sufficient evidence was discovered to file criminal charges against Yourex for illegally registering her dog to vote and then casting mail-in ballots issued to her dog based on the fraudulent voter registration,” the statement read.
Yourex’s January 2022 post might have slipped past authorities, but in October 2024, she posted another photo showing the pet ID tag of Maya, her dog, and a vote-by-mail ballot. The photo was captioned, “Maya is still getting her ballot,” though the dog had died, prosecutors said.
In April 2026, Yourex signed a plea agreement. She was required to pay $1,500 for four billboards along the 55 and 22 freeways in Orange County through the Nov. 3 midterm election. The billboards feature Yourex’s photo of her dog with a ballot, and reads: “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.”
