Orange County supervisors Tuesday voted to direct Registrar of Voters Bob Page to keep working to remove non-humans from voting following news of a Costa Mesa woman accused of registering her dog to vote and twice casting ballots in the canine’s name.
The directive was approved 3-1 with Orange County Board Chairman Doug Chaffee abstaining and Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento voting no. Supervisors Don Wagner and Janet Nguyen jointly proposed the directive.
“This dog situation is a symptom, as is the 17 non-citizens subject to the Department of Justice lawsuit against the county — symptoms of a problem with our voting rolls,” said Wagner, who is running for secretary of state.
Laura Lee Yourex, who is charged with registering her dog, is scheduled to be arraigned in December.
The board’s directive to Page involves checking animal control agency licenses against voter registrations.
Page said his office “found no matches between the two databases” in the county’s unincorporated areas.
Registrar officials were checking animal databases in the cities the county contracts with, Page said.
Page explained that when voters register for a federal election they must show proof of residency and identity, but that is not required for state-only elections. The state law does, however, require voters to sign an affidavit attesting to their citizenship and identity and face perjury charges if they’re lying.
“We are coming up on a peculiar special election to gerrymander the state,” Wagner said of the November special election asking voters to approve a congressional redistricting plan. “Would a dog be allowed to register?”
Page said there are about 2,600 voters on the rolls for the November special election who have not provided proof of identity or residency.
Page said it represented just one-tenth of one percent of the registered voters in the county.
County officials will send those voters a request to affirm that their registration is valid, Page said.
“If somebody’s trying to game the system and I find out about it I’m going to refer it to the district attorney for investigation and prosecution,” Page said. “And I’m going to do everything within the law to maintain our voter rolls in as accurate a fashion as possible.”
Page noted that the county’s election rolls are “very well maintained.” He pointed to the notices of mail that was undeliverable as “twice as good” in 2024 as the national average.
When pressed on whether the state policy was OK with him, Page deferred, saying he wanted to remain neutral on policy matters.
“I’m an administrator, not a policy maker,” Page said.
Chaffee noted that the registrar has recently won four awards.
“I do want to make certain that you remain independent and neutral,” Chaffee told Page. “I think that’s the only fair way to handle an election for all concerned.”
Sarmiento said he felt it was more pressing that voter turnout has been so low in cities in his district.
“I wish we could be talking about how can we encourage people participating in their government,” Sarmiento said. “What we are doing about that is more a worthy conversation.”
Page said the registrar has a new draft plan that includes more voter education and outreach and there is a public hearing on it at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Irvine City Hall. He invited the public to provide input.
“There’s a lot we can do with education,” he said. “We have a very robust voter education program, probably one of the most robust in the state but there are always new things we can do to reach people.”
Page, however, noted that election turnout can depend on the quality of candidates and the amount of money put into campaigning.
“I believe a general distrust in government and institutions right now for the last few years also drives low turnout,” Page said.
Wagner also prodded the board to back a resolution opposing Proposition 50, which aims to change California’s congressional districts to potentially add five more Democrats to the House in response to the gerrymandering in Texas that added the possibility of five more Republicans to Congress. That resolution failed with only Nguyen and Wagner backing it.
“It sticks a finger in the eyes of California voters,” who have backed a nonpartisan commission drawing up the congressional boundaries, Wagner said.
“That is going to be undone by this special election,” Wagner said.
He argues the proposition will make the state even less representative of the partisan breakdown.
“I think this is an issue the voters should decide,” Foley said. “We shouldn’t be taking a position in support or opposition. I trust the voters of the state of California whether they think Prop 50 is in their interests. I encourage all voters to just know the facts and make a decision for yourself.”
Sarmiento said he wasn’t “thrilled with the new proposed” district boundaries, but, he added, “I’m also not ignorant and with a buried head in the sand about what triggered all of this… This is part of a consequence about what (Texas) started. There is a context federally that affects our county.”
Wagner replied that, “Texas may be arguably doing something stupid or wrong, but I have no idea why that means California should go ahead and do something stupid and wrong.”
Chaffee quipped, “I wish both Texas and California would back away. My solution would be to have California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott debate each other on the next Jimmy Kimmel show.”
The board on Tuesday also voted to approve spending $19.750,012 to settle claims stemming from last year’s Airport Fire. In April the board voted to pay $9.5 million to settle other various claims.
The Airport Fire, which started Sept. 9, 2024, blackened 23,526 acres in Orange and Riverside counties, injuring 21 people.
Officials said the fire was sparked by a county public works crew using heavy equipment. The cause was deemed accidental.