Court leaves Crystal Mason’s illegal voting acquittal in place
FORT WORTH, Texas - After years of legal battles, a Tarrant County voter fraud case is finally closed.
The case involves Crystal Mason, a Fort Worth woman who was accused of voting illegally. A recent court decision left her conviction overturned.
The backstory:
Mason was convicted in 2018 after casting a provisional vote in the 2016 presidential election. At the time, she was on supervised release for felony tax fraud.
The Fort Worth mother of three said she did not know she was ineligible to vote as a convicted felon.
Even though her ballot was never counted, she was given a five-year prison sentence.
What's new:
In 2024, a lower appeals court reversed Mason’s conviction, saying there wasn’t enough evidence to prove she knew she was not allowed to vote.
Texas appeals court overturns North Texas woman's voter fraud conviction
A North Texas woman who was prosecuted for illegal voting had her conviction and five-year prison sentence overturned.
The state appealed. Then on Thursday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed that appeal.
The court did not decide whether the lower court got the law right. The decision was five to four, with only four judges saying the court should have heard the state’s arguments.
What they're saying:
Mason has made a statement saying she never lost faith that justice would be done, and she hopes people who hear her story are encouraged to get out and vote.
"This was never simply about one provisional ballot. This was about whether our justice system would allow a woman to lose five years of her freedom when the ballot at the center of the prosecution was never even counted," said Minister Dominique Alexander, President and CEO of the Next Generation Action Network. "Her persistence, her faith, and the commitment of an extraordinary legal team remind us why we cannot surrender when injustice is wrapped in the language of law."
The other side:
"That court's slipshod analysis of the issue undermines the ability of the State of Texas to enforce its election laws. That court's decision not only allows Appellant's fraudulent vote to go unpunished, but its faulty analysis in a published opinion makes it more difficult to punish those who illegally vote in the future," Justice Gina Parker said in her dissent.
Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells said he still believes a lawful vote should never be canceled out by an unlawful one, and voters deserve confidence in the election system.
"Illegal voting remains a crime in Texas," he said. "If there is evidence that someone knowingly violates our election laws in Tarrant County, we will investigate it and, when the evidence supports it, prosecute it."
The Source: The information in this story comes from a news release from the ACLU of Texas, TX Civil Rights Project, statements from Crystal Mason, statements from the Tarrant County District Attorney and past news coverage.