There are a variety of non-person entities, all of which may engage in felonies. Take the late Maya Jean Yourex of Costa Mesa, California, who was encouraged to register to vote…even though Maya is a dog.
I’m sure that Carl DeMaio will hop on this story immediately.
Maya’s voting history
Maya first voted via mail-in ballot in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election of Gavin Newsom. We know about this because Laura Lee Yourex posted a picture in January 2022 of her dog wearing an “I voted” sticker.
This could be dismissed as a silly picture, but Laura Lee’s October 2024 post exemplifies dumb crime. According to Orange County District Attorney spokeswoman Kimberly Edds (who presumably is human, though I haven’t verified this):
“Yourex had posted [a photo] in October 2024 of Maya’s dog tag and a vote-by-mail ballot with the caption “Maya is still getting her ballot,” even after the dog had passed away…”
The second ballot was rejected, but the first was counted.
Maya got away scot-free.
But Laura Lee potentially faces five felonies:
- two counts of casting a ballot when not entitled to vote
- perjury
- procuring or offering a false or forged document to be filed
- registering a non-existent person to vote
She is scheduled to enter a plea on Tuesday and theoretically faces six years behind bars.
Nathaniel Percy of the Orange County Register points out an important difference between the two elections in which Maya participated:
“Proof of residence or identification is not required for citizens to register to vote in state elections or cast ballots in state elections, which was how Maya’s vote counted in the recall election of Newsom….
“It was not immediately known on Friday how Maya voted in that election.
“However, proof of residence and registration is required of first-time voters in federal elections, and the ballot in Maya’s name for the 2022 primary was challenged and rejected….”
Voting agencies can’t find fake IDs
However, as I have previously noted, voting officials do not have the knowledge or tools to determine whether a government identification document is legitimate.
As long as Maya’s ID declared that she was 18 years old, some voting officials would approve it.
Even if Maya’s face on the ID was a dog face.
Beyond “ID plus selfie“
As for proof of residency, Laura Lee’s electric bill could list Maya on the account, and Southern California Edison would be none the wiser.
Which is why many identity verification processes go beyond “ID plus selfie” (what you have plus what you are), and also include checks of textual databases for additional evidence of the person.
Socure, for example, accesses over 400 global data sources to verify identities or identify fraudulent ones.
I doubt that Laura Lee enrolled her dog Maya in all of these sources. How many Social Security Numbers, email addresses, bank accounts, credit cards, and other records would Maya have? “Canine identifiable information” (CII)?
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