A Texas Court of Appeals overturned a Fort Worth woman's voter fraud conviction and five-year prison sentence for casting an illegal provisional ballot.
Crystal Mason did not know that her probation because of a previous felony conviction made her ineligible to vote in 2016, the state's 2nd District Court of Appeals in Fort Worth ruled Thursday.
Mason, who appeared on the verge of tears at times, said during a news conference on Friday that it had been seven long years since he was charged with voting. “I've been out of prison for six years on an appeal bond — one foot in and one out — and I don't know if I'm going back to prison or not,” Mason said.
“When I heard the news…I was filled with joy. It was a long journey.” “I cried and screamed when I heard the news.”
Prosecutors confirmed that Mason read and signed an affidavit accompanying the provisional ballot asserting that she had “fully completed” her sentence if convicted of the felony.
Judge Wade Birdwell wrote that reading those words into the affidavit did not prove that Mason had intentionally cast a provisional ballot illegally.
“Even if she had read it, it is not enough … to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she actually knew that being on supervised release after serving her entire federal prison term made her ineligible to vote by casting a provisional ballot.” “The decision said.
Thomas Bowser Clancy, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, called the ruling “a victory for democracy.”
“Ms. Mason should never have been prosecuted over what was at worst an innocent misunderstanding,” Bowser Clancy said. He noted that the ballot was not counted because she was not a registered voter, and said the case should have ended there. .
Mason, a former tax preparer, was convicted in 2012 on charges of inflating client refunds and served nearly three years of a five-year sentence in prison. She was then placed on probation for three years and had to pay $4.2 million in restitution, according to court documents.
Because of the initial conviction, Mason was returned to federal prison for 10 months to complete the original sentence and given an additional two years of probation.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals previously ordered the court to review whether there was sufficient evidence to convict Mason, ruling that Texas election law requires individuals to know they are ineligible to vote to be found guilty of illegal voting.
Bowser Clancy said the state could ask the Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider the case, but he hopes prosecutors will accept the ruling.
Prosecutors did not immediately return a phone call for comment on Friday.
Kim Cole, Mason's attorney, described the allegation as malicious and politically motivated.
“State prosecutors specifically stated they wanted to 'send a message' to voters. They intentionally put Crystal through more than six years of absolute hell,” Cole said in the statement.
Mason's long sentence has alarmed Republican and Democratic state lawmakers. In 2021, after a new voting law measure passed over Democratic objections, the GOP-controlled House approved a resolution stating that “no person should be criminally imprisoned for committing an innocent wrong.”
Critics of the state's voting laws assert that Texas targeted black and Latino voters who tend to vote Democratic so Republicans could stay in power.
The Sentencing Project, which advocates for commutation and expanded voting rights for felons nationwide, says Texas leads the nation by disenfranchising 450,000 citizens, or 2.5% of the state's voting-age population, about two-thirds of whom are black or Latino.
Texas Democratic Rep. Ron Reynolds, chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, said Mason's case shows the systemic challenges marginalized voters face as they try to cast their ballots.
“While her endorsement is a step in the right direction, it highlights the urgent need for comprehensive election reform to ensure equitable access to the ballot box for all citizens,” Reynolds said in a statement.
Texas is among dozens of states that prevent felons from voting even after they leave prison. In 22 other states, felons can vote once they are out of prison, and two states — Vermont and Maine — allow felons to vote while in prison, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Attorney Allison Grinter Allen said she doesn't know how many Texans are ineligible because they are on parole or still owe fines, but she said state laws confuse people.
“A large number of people on probation in Texas are on pre-conviction probation, and those people are all eligible to vote,” Allen said. “So a lot of people are led to believe that they can't vote because they're on probation that doesn't lead to disqualification.”
Miller writes for the Associated Press.
