Crystal Mason will not serve a five-year prison sentence for casting a provisional ballot that was never counted after Texas’ highest criminal court rejected prosecutors’ effort to restore her conviction.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued its decision Thursday, September 24, closing the latest chapter in a voting case that drew national attention to the risks faced by people trying to navigate eligibility rules after a criminal conviction.
Mason, a Black woman from Fort Worth, was convicted in 2018 of illegal voting after submitting a provisional ballot in the 2016 presidential election while she was on supervised release for a federal tax-fraud conviction. She has consistently maintained that she did not know Texas law made her ineligible to vote at the time.
Her ballot was rejected and never added to the election totals.
In 2024, Fort Worth’s 2nd Court of Appeals overturned Mason’s conviction, finding that prosecutors had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that she knew she was ineligible. Knowledge was a required element of the offense under state law.
Prosecutors asked the Court of Criminal Appeals to review that reversal. On Thursday, the court’s majority dismissed the review, saying it had been granted “improvidently.” The unsigned decision leaves the appellate ruling—and the reversal of Mason’s conviction—in place.
Four of the court’s nine judges filed dissents. Judges David Schenck, Kevin Yeary, Lee Finley and Gina Parker disagreed with the outcome. Yeary and Finley argued that the trial evidence was sufficient to support a finding that Mason knowingly cast an illegal vote.
Mason said she was relieved that the long-running case had ended.
“In all these years, I never lost my faith that justice would be done,” she said in a statement reported by The Texas Tribune.
The case began when Mason went to her polling place in 2016 and learned that her name did not appear on the voter roll. A poll worker advised her to submit a provisional ballot, which allows election officials to investigate a person’s eligibility before deciding whether the vote can be counted.
Mason’s attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project argued that she should never have been prosecuted because she did not knowingly violate the law. Voting-rights advocates said the severity of the sentence could discourage eligible voters—especially people with past convictions—from attempting to vote or asking election workers for help.
Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells defended the prosecution, saying election laws must be enforced fairly and that voters deserve confidence in the system.
The ruling does not change Texas’ eligibility requirements. People convicted of a felony generally regain the right to register and vote after fully completing their sentence, including incarceration, parole, supervision and probation. Anyone uncertain about eligibility should verify their status with election officials or seek qualified legal guidance before registering or casting a ballot.
For Mason, Thursday’s decision means the reversed conviction remains off the books and the five-year sentence will not take effect, ending a legal battle that followed her for nearly a decade.
Sources: The Texas Tribune; Texas Court of Criminal Appeals majority opinion.
