A Ventura County man who has been a political candidate faces four felony counts of perjury for allegedly submitting voter registration applications for fictitious cats, Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced Dec. 4.

Bruce Boyer, 63, who unsuccessfully ran for county sheriff in 2018, county clerk in 2022, and for a congressional seat in March, allegedly filed four voter registrations for cartoon cats with the county clerk’s office.

Each registration included Boyer’s home address and was signed under penalty of perjury, according to Nasarenko.

“Our office is committed to ensuring that every vote is lawful and that those accused of compromising the integrity of our election process face consequences,” Nasarenko said in a press release Wednesday.

The Ventura County Clerk-Recorder and Registrar of Voters Office detected the voter registration forms and flagged them as suspicious, according to  county officials.

Boyer made his first court appearance Wednesday and his arraignment was continued to Jan. 17. He was released on his own recognizance, though Nasarenko requested bail be set at $100,000.

According to court documents filed Nov. 22, prosecutors claim Boyer filed the fraudulent registrations on Sept. 27, Sept. 30, Oct. 21, and Oct. 25.

Boyer claimed Thursday that the fake registrations should have been accepted, according to California’s voter registration system.

Earlier this year, Boyer registered Felix T. Cat using the state’s voter registration portal after his neighbor said he successfully registered his cat to vote.

“I said OK, let me see, so I went online and registered Felix T. Cat,” he told The Epoch Times on Dec. 5.

Boyer gave the cat a birthdate of Jan. 1, 1982, and stated it was a member of the American Feline Party and spoke English. No identification or Social Security number was required, he said. He used his neighbor’s address for the cat, he said.

Boyer’s neighbor received a return letter from the state asking for Felix T. Cat’s signature to make the registration valid.

(L–R) Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko, Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff, and Thousand Oaks Chief of Police Jeremy Paris answer questions during a news conference in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2023. (Juan Carlo/The Ventura County Star via AP)

He didn’t sign the registration but it made him wonder about the validity of the voting system, Boyer said.

“If you can register a cartoon character to vote, than the entire system is a fraud,” Boyer added.

According to the bail request filed by Nasarenko on Dec. 2, the district attorney claims Boyer sent four fraudulent voter registration applications by mail in the names of Cool T. Cat, Estrea D. Tigre, Fritz T. Cat, and Sylvester T. Cat.

“All of the handwriting on the fictitious cat voter registration forms appeared to be consistent with Boyer’s handwriting on his sheriff candidacy forms and his clerk recorder and registrar of voters candidacy forms,” the district attorney claims. “Additionally, Boyer listed his home address on each of the cat voter registration applications.”

On Jan. 23, Boyer testified at a Ventura County Board of Supervisors meeting about his concerns regarding the state and county’s voter registration system, and mentioned his prior attempt to register Felix T. Cat with the state.

“In Boyer’s speech, I believe he was making a point that it was easy to commit voter fraud in Ventura County,” Nasarenko wrote in the court request. “… It appears Boyer is challenging the voter registration process and attempting to register fictitious cats to vote.”

According to the district attorney, Boyer was arrested Sept. 19 for a disturbance at an assembly unrelated to the current charges, and has been arrested several times since 2004.

Boyer, who has announced his intent to run for Congress again in 2026, claims the registrations should have been approved, according to the county’s voter laws.

“The clerk is breaking the law if the clerk fails to register them to vote,” he said.

District attorney spokesman Joey Buttitta said the registrations were caught before any action was taken on them.

“They were caught by the county clerk-recorder’s office and never actually registered,” Buttitta told The Epoch Times in an email.