California doesn’t check citizenship when people register to vote. That’s how a dog was able to participate in two recent elections.
Costa Mesa resident Laura Lee Yourex registered her dog, Maya Jean, to vote in 2020. She cast two mail-in ballots in different elections in the dog’s name, according to the Orange County district attorney.
Maya Jean’s ballot counted in the 2021 recall election against Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Newsom survived.)
Maya Jean tried to vote again in the 2022 primary (that is, Yourex mailed a ballot on the dog’s behalf), but the dog’s ballot was rejected because there were federal races on the ballot that triggered verification requirements for certain first-time voters.
If the state of California had been the only authority involved, Maya Jean’s ballot would have been counted without question.
The only reason Yourex was caught and prosecuted was that she reported herself (and her dog).
In 2024, three years after Maya Jean’s ballot was counted, Yourex posted a photo of Maya Jean’s dog tag next to another mail-in ballot and wrote that her dog was still getting ballots despite having died.
Apparently, it isn’t just dead people getting ballots; it’s dead dogs too.
California’s election system didn’t identify the fraud before the first ballot counted, and the county registrar continued generating ballots years later.
The Orange County DA initially charged Yourex with five felonies, but she pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor after prosecutors dismissed four felony charges and reduced the fifth.
Her punishment was a $1,500 payment to run four billboards featuring her dog, Maya Jean, and declaring that voter fraud is a crime.
Raising public awareness is one thing. But enforcement is another. And California just isn’t interested.
This week, a federal judge in California blocked the Trump administration from enforcing laws preventing noncitizens from voting.
US District Judge David Carter, a Bill Clinton appointee, said that the White House was trying to “threaten an ongoing election” by enforcing federal law.
Ironically, California law also bars noncitizens from voting.
But California doesn’t bother to check the citizenship of people who register to vote. It just takes them at their word.
And according to Judge Carter, that’s California’s own business under the US Constitution.
Luckily, California voters can do something about this absurd situation. They can vote for Proposition 39, the Voter ID initiative.
Prop 39 would require voters to present a government ID when voting in person, or to choose a unique four-digit PIN if voting by mail.
It would also require the state to verify citizenship when voters register.
And no, dog tags and American Kennel Club certificates wouldn’t count as government-issued identification.
Right now, California law actually bars the use of ID when voting in person. And for mail-in ballots, the only verification California uses is matching the signature on the envelope to the signatures in the voter’s registration record.
But matching a signature doesn’t necessarily mean the original registration was valid.
Prop. 39 would require election officials to make “best efforts” to verify the citizenship of people on the voter registration list using government records. It would also require California to provide free state-issued voter ID cards upon request.
To ensure compliance, Prop. 39 would require regular audits of election officials’ adherence to those rules.
No safeguard guarantees every attempt at fraud is caught. But the contrast between Maya Jean’s two ballots demonstrates that additional verification can make a difference.
In the movie “101 Dalmatians,” dogs across the countryside used the Twilight Bark to spread the word about missing puppies.
Now, Maya Jean’s story should travel across California to tell voters there is something they can do to protect public trust in democracy: Vote for Proposition 39.
Ken Cuccinelli is chairman of Heritage Action’s Election Transparency Initiative.
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