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An Orange County lady faces 5 felony prices after she was accused of paw-litical fraud by registering her canine to vote and illegally casting ballots for the pooch in two elections, authorities stated.
Laura Lee Yourex, 62, of Costa Mesa, allegedly mailed in ballots registered underneath her canine’s identify, Maya Jean Yourex, within the 2021 gubernatorial recall election and the 2022 major election, in line with the Orange County district legal professional’s workplace. The 2021 poll was accepted, whereas the 2022 poll was rejected, prosecutors stated.
Yourex allegedly bragged in regards to the feat on social media, sharing an image of Maya toting an “I Voted” sticker and posing with the unlawful poll in January 2022, prosecutors stated. In October, Yourex posted a photograph of Maya’s canine tag and a vote-by-mail poll with the caption, “Maya continues to be getting her poll,” regardless that the canine had handed away.
She has been charged with one depend of registering a nonexistent particular person to vote, one depend of perjury, one depend of procuring a false or cast doc to be filed and two counts of casting a poll when not entitled to vote, prosecutors stated. Yourex is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.
If convicted as charged, Yourex faces as much as six years in state jail.
The Orange County Registrar of Voters contacted the district legal professional’s workplace on Oct. 28 after a resident self-reported that she had registered her canine to vote and solid two ballots in her canine’s identify, authorities stated.
California residents should signal an affidavit underneath penalty of perjury to register to vote. Whereas proof of residence is required for first-time voters to solid a poll in a federal election, it’s not required to solid a poll in a state election.
That is why the canine’s poll for the 2021 state election to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom was accepted, whereas the 2022 midterm elections poll was rejected, prosecutors stated.
The recall try was finally voted down by 61.9% of voters. It’s not clear how “Maya” voted.
In June, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit towards Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Web page for allegedly refusing to supply the Justice Division with information pertaining to the elimination of individuals missing documentation from its voter registration checklist. The Justice Division has despatched letters to a minimum of 26 states requesting particulars about voters, election processes and election officers.
In August, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to refuse to adjust to the DOJ’s calls for to show over the voter registration information of 17 people who have been ineligible to solid a poll however had appeared on the county’s voter registration rolls.
The O.C. Registrar of Voters confronted assaults over the integrity of the 2024 election after unfounded allegations of cast signatures, non-U.S. residents voting and duplicated ballots circulated on social media.
In January, the Orange County Grand Jury revealed a report concluding that the registrar exhibited the “highest stage of integrity” within the 2024 election and that there was no proof of voter fraud.
Occasions workers writers Hannah Fry and Gabriel San Román contributed to this report.
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