Crystal Mason, lawyers urge TX court to uphold acquittal of illegal voting conviction
Crystal Mason and her attorneys are urging Texas’ highest Criminal Court of Appeals to uphold a lower court’s acquittal from earlier this year in her illegal voting case.
In a brief filed in her case on Tuesday, Oct. 29, criminal and civil rights lawyers argued the court should recognize the ruling of a lower appeals court, which overturned her conviction in March.
Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells in April appealed the lower court’s decision to acquit, saying the following month that he wanted to use her case as an example for “would-be illegal voters” in Tarrant County.
Sorrell’s office submitted the following statement after this story was posted:
“The State has filed its brief with the Court of Criminal Appeals setting forth how, under the appropriate legal sufficiency standards of review, the evidence supports Crystal Mason’s conviction for illegal voting. Testimony from the election judge and the poll worker about Mason’s actions at the polling place combined with her own testimony establishes that she read and understood the affidavit on the day she voted, regardless of her protestations to the contrary, and that she had actual knowledge of her ineligibility to vote based on her status as a convicted felon. We await the court’s decision.”
Mason, who is from Rendon, cast a provisional ballot in the 2016 election while on supervised release from prison related to a 2012 conviction for tax fraud. The vote was never counted, and she has always maintained that she was unaware of her ineligibility to vote.
“For eight years, I have faced prison for simply trying to do my civic duty,” Mason said in a press release sent by the ACLU. “Throughout this time, I have maintained hope in the courts and in our democracy that what is right will prevail, and I will not be separated from my children and grandchildren for half a decade simply for submitting a provisional ballot that was never counted as a vote.”
Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Civil Rights Project expressed confidence that the court will uphold the acquittal.
“The record does not support Ms. Mason’s conviction,” said Tommy Buser-Clancy, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Texas. “Ms. Mason had no idea the state considered her ineligible to vote when she submitted her provisional ballot in 2016. She had no reason to risk separation from her family and her freedom just to cast a ballot that was never even counted. We remain confident that the lower court’s acquittal of her will be upheld, reassuring Texans that we can do our civic duty without fear of criminalization.”
Mason’s renewed prosecution comes at a time of heightened fears of voter fraud nationwide, while little evidence exists to support claims that it is widespread enough to affect election results.
The center-left Brookings Institution analyzed voter fraud data compiled by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation and found that the cases it cites in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin represent far less than 1% of the total number of ballots cast in those states going back decades.
Pennsylvania, for example, saw 39 cases of voter fraud out of over 100 million votes cast in 32 elections over the past 30 years, according to The Heritage Foundation. Those cases represent 0.0000388% of the total votes cast.
Tarrant County Administrator Chandler Merritt told county commissioners in June that the Election Integrity Task Force had investigated 12 cases of alleged voter fraud since it was formed as a joint operation by the sheriff’s and DA’s offices in February 2023.
That number has risen to at least 31, a DA’s Office spokesperson said, but the task force has not issued any indictments.
The case against Mason also lacks evidence, according to Christina Beeler, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project.
“Ms. Mason has been dealing with this case for eight years now,” Beeler said. “She never should have been charged. The evidence shows that she did not know she was ineligible when she cast her provisional ballot at the urging of election workers, and her ballot was never even counted — the system worked as intended.”
Criminal defense attorney Alison Ginter and civil rights attorney Kim T. Cole also signed onto the brief.
Ginter said in the ACLU’s press release that Mason’s prosecution “has had the intended effect of sowing confusion and fear in the electorate,” and called for “this nightmare to end once and for all.”
Cole said that Mason has been “targeted” and “maliciously prosecuted,” but expressed a belief that justice will prevail at the end of what has been an “insanely lengthy and arduous process.”
As the Nov. 5 election nears, Mason had a message for voters as well as the judges who will decide her fate.
“On the eve of another major election, I hope people will think of my story and how precious our rights are,” she said. “This experience has made me even more passionate about voting rights, and I continue to have faith that this court will uphold the lower court’s acquittal and grant me the freedom I have been praying for.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 1:24 PM.
