RETHINK

It Was Wrong to Sentence Black Woman to Five Years in Prison for ‘Illegal’ Vote, a Texas Court Finally Says

The conviction of Crystal Mason sparked outrage among voting-rights advocates who argue that race may be a factor in her prosecution.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled that a woman sentenced to five years in prison for illegally voting in 2016 with a ballot that was never officially tallied must have her appeal reconsidered. The case of Crystal Mason, who has maintained that she had no idea she wasn’t allowed to vote and said she did so only at a poll worker’s urging, sparked outrage among voting-rights advocates who argue that race may be a factor in her prosecution. Mason, who is Black, was convicted and sentenced to five years in 2018, though she is out on bond. Texas’ highest criminal court on Wednesday ruled that a lower court was wrong to uphold parts of her conviction, and that it must be reconsidered. The lower court had failed to “require proof that [Mason] had actual knowledge that it was a crime for her to vote while on supervised release,” the higher court found. Mason was out on supervised release over federal tax-evasion charges when she voted in 2016 in what she called “an innocent misunderstanding of casting a provisional ballot that was never even counted,” The New York Times reports.