California Woman Registered Her Dog to Vote

The Orange County, CA DA’s office has charged a Costa Mesa woman with illegally registering her dog to vote in California and casting mail in ballots in her dog’s name. The dog’s vote was successfully counted in the 2021 recall of Governor Newsom, but was rejected in the 2022 primary. 62-year-old Laura Lee Yourex now faces six felonies. One felony count of perjury, one felony count of procuring or offering a false or forged document to be filed, two felony counts of casting a ballot when not entitled to vote, and one felony count of registering a non-existent person to vote. Per OC DA office: “Proof of residence or identification is not required for citizens to register to vote in California elections nor is it required to cast a ballot in state elections. However, proof of residence and registration is required for first-time voters to vote in a federal election. As a result, the 2022 primary ballot cast in Maya Jean’s name (the dog) was challenged and rejected. The 2021 election to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom was voted down by 61.9% of voters. The woman also posted photos of her dog on social media with an “I voted” sticker.

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beckyromero · 36-40, F

She's a registered REPUBLICAN. Not sure how she registered the dog.

https://similarworlds.com/politics/5388787-The-Lengths-That-Republicans-Will-Go-to-Allege-Voter-Fraud

sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M

@beckyromero

The second time Duncan M. MacDonald sent in an absentee ballot, an election worker in Federal Way called to ask about the paw print on the envelope. But it took three ballots before the prosecutor contacted the voting dog's owner.

Jane Balogh said she registered the Australian shepherd-terrier mix to vote in protest of a 2005 state voter-registration law that she says makes it too easy for noncitizens to vote.

She put her phone bill in Duncan's name, then used the phone bill as identification to register him as a voter.

"I wasn't trying to do anything fraudulent. I was trying to prove that our system is flawed. So I got myself in trouble," she says.

Prosecutors have offered the grandmother and Army veteran a deal: plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of making a false statement to a public official and they will not file a felony charge of providing false information on a voter-registration application.

Balogh said she doesn't plan to contest the charge because "I know I'm guilty." She said she submitted ballots in the dog's name in the September and November 2006 and May 2007 elections. She wrote "VOID" on the ballots and didn't cast any votes.

Prosecutors said they would recommend she be sentenced to 10 hours of community service, pay a $250 fine and commit no other crimes for a year. Balogh is scheduled to be arraigned in King County Superior Court on Tuesday.

Acting Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg says his office "can't simply look the other way. They say you should let sleeping dogs lie, but you can't let voting dogs vote."