Crystal Mason voter fraud conviction overturned

AUSTIN, Texas - Crystal Mason has spent the past several years in and out of court. On Friday, in a Zoom news conference, Mason was able to claim a big legal win.

"It's been a long journey for me, for me and my family," said Mason. 

Her journey ended Thursday night with a ruling from the Texas Second Court of Criminal Appeals. The court overturned her conviction for committing voter fraud.

"Ms. Mason never should have been prosecuted for what was, at worst, an innocent misunderstanding," said Thomas Buser Clancy with the ACLU of Texas.

Mason, during the 2016 Election, submitted a provisional ballot when her name did not come up on the registered voter roll. It wasn’t there because she was still a felon on supervised release for a federal tax fraud conviction. Provisional ballots include a notice about voting qualifications, but Mason claimed she never read it.

"The state of Texas spent years wasting tax dollars and resources trying to ruin the life of an innocent grandmother, who did nothing but attempt to cast a provisional ballot that wasn't even counted," said Chrstina Beeler with the Texas Civil Rights Project.

Tarrant County prosecutors, during the appeals process, defended the conviction by stating: "We believe it is not an 'accidental vote' when the voter drives herself to the polling place and votes after signing a warning against illegal voting and after being warned not to vote by her defense attorney."

Mason's conviction was initially upheld under that argument, but two years ago the case was sent back to the lower court. In making the reversal, the Appeals Court noted:

"Even if she had read them (the rules on the ballot), they are not sufficient, even in the context of the rest of the evidence in this case, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she actually knew that being on supervised release after having served her entire federal sentence of incarceration made her ineligible to vote by casting a provisional ballot when she did so."

The legal team for Mason could not say how many people are currently in Texas under the kind of restriction that prevented her from voting in 2016.

"It is important to know that so many people are in a position that could very well be confusing to them, to the elections administrators. This law has to be simplified, but I fear that it might be confusing on purpose," said attorney Alison Grinter Allen.

State lawmakers set in motion Mason's legal victory in 2021 when they clarified the election law. SB1, during the second Special Session that year, amended the election code.

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Now, a charge cannot be made, "solely upon the fact that the person signed a provisional ballot." The act of fraud has to be proven with other evidence to show the accused "knowingly" tried to cast an illegal vote. Along with that clarification, lawmakers also amended the election code requiring judges to inform convicted felons that their voting rights have been suspended.

"It's been a really rough and when I got the news yesterday, I was just overwhelmed with joy. It's been a long journey," said Mason.

In preventing more cases like the one involving Crystal Mason, state lawmakers also made the consequences of committing voter fraud tougher. The option of a misdemeanor charge was struck. The act is now only a felony charge. With the consequences tougher, Mason said she has started an organization to help people understand their voting rights.

"What I want people to take away from this is never get discouraged. Know your rights. If you're eligible to vote, please vote. And, don't let my story discourage you, but encourage you to go to the polls. And that's what I want my takeaway to be," said Mason.

Her first vote, no longer under the Felony Conviction, Mason said, happened last year.