Texas court upholds acquittal of Crystal Mason in voter fraud case

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the acquittal of Crystal Mason, ending a long-running legal battle regarding her 2016 provisional ballot. The decision prevents Mason from serving a five-year prison sentence originally handed down following a 2018 conviction for illegal voting.

Mason, a resident of Fort Worth, cast a provisional ballot during the 2016 presidential election while on supervised release for a federal tax-fraud conviction, which rendered her ineligible to vote under state law. She maintained throughout the proceedings that she was unaware of her ineligibility. Her ballot was ultimately rejected and not included in the election totals.

The case returned to the state’s highest criminal court after prosecutors challenged a 2023 ruling from the Fort Worth 2nd Court of Appeals that had overturned the conviction. The appellate court found that prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mason knowingly violated the law, a required element for the offense. In its recent decision, the Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed the review, leaving the acquittal in place. While four judges dissented, the majority's decision concludes the case.

Mason, who was represented by the ACLU and the Texas Civil Rights Project, expressed relief at the conclusion of the decade-long case, stating, “In all these years, I never lost my faith that justice would be done.”