The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has told a lower appeals court to take another look at the controversial illegal voting conviction of Crystal Mason, who was given a five-year prison sentence for casting a provisional ballot in the 2016 election while she was on supervised release for a federal conviction.
The state鈥檚 court of last resort for criminal matters on Wednesdayhad wrongly upheld Mason's conviction by concluding that it was "irrelevant" to Mason's prosecution that she did not know she was ineligible to cast a ballot. The ruling opens the door for Mason's conviction to ultimately be overturned.
Mason鈥檚 lawyers turned to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after the Tarrant County-based Second Court of Appeals found that her knowledge that she was on supervised release, and therefore ineligible to vote, was sufficient for an illegal voting conviction. Mason has said she did know she was ineligible to vote and wouldn鈥檛 have knowingly risked her freedom.
On Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the lower court had 鈥渆rred by failing to require proof that [Mason] had actual knowledge that it was a crime for her to vote while on supervised release.鈥� They sent the case back down with instructions for the lower court to 鈥渆valuate the sufficiency鈥� of the evidence against Mason.
Mason鈥檚 case dates back to 2016 when, after discovering she was not on the voter roll, Mason submitted a provisional ballot in that year鈥檚 presidential election on the advice of a poll worker. Her ballot was rejected because she was not eligible to participate in elections while still on supervised release for a federal tax fraud conviction. But she was arrested a few months later.
Mason's prosecution hinged on an affidavit she signed before casting her provisional ballot that required individuals to swear that 鈥渋f a felon, I have completed all my punishment including any term of incarceration, parole, supervision, period of probation, or I have been pardoned.鈥�
A trial court judge convicted her of illegally voting, then-a second-degree state felony, after a poll worker testified he watched Mason read, and run her finger along, each line of an affidavit. Mason said she did not read the entire affidavit. At trial, a supervisor from the probation office overseeing her release testified that no one from that office had informed her she was still ineligible to vote.
In Wednesday鈥檚 ruling, the court held that the Texas election code requires individuals to know they are ineligible to vote to be convicted of illegal voting.
鈥淭o construe the statute to mean that a person can be guilty even if she does not 鈥榢now[] the person is not eligible to vote鈥� is to disregard the words the Legislature intended,鈥� the court wrote. 鈥淚t turns the knowledge requirement into a sort of negligence scheme wherein a person can be guilty because she fails to take reasonable care to ensure that she is eligible to vote.鈥�
The court on Wednesday ruled against Mason on two other issues. They rejected her arguments that the lower court had interpreted the state鈥檚 illegal voting statute in a way that criminalized the good faith submission of provisional ballots, and that the appeals court had wrongly found she 鈥渧oted in an election鈥� even though her provisional ballot was never counted.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals鈥� ruling marks the latest turn in a prosecution that thrust Mason into the political quagmire surrounding the Republican-led crackdown on voter fraud, partly fueled by baseless claims of rampant illegal voting. The lack of evidence that illegal votes are cast on a widespread basis has turned attention to a handful of attention-grabbing prosecutions of people of color, including Mason, who is Black.
Insisting they鈥檙e not criminalizing individuals who merely vote by mistake, Tarrant County prosecutors have said Mason鈥檚 case is about intent. The case against her has turned on the affidavit she signed when submitting her provisional ballot.
But the legal landscape underpinning Tarrant County鈥檚 prosecution shifted while the case was under review, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals noted.
Last year, the Texas Legislature included in its sweeping new voting law several changes to the election code鈥檚 illegal voting provisions. The law, known as Senate Bill 1, added new language stating that Texans may not be convicted of voting illegally 鈥渟olely upon the fact that the person signed a provisional ballot,鈥� instead requiring other evidence to corroborate they knowingly tried to cast an unlawful vote.
The Legislature鈥檚 change to the election code 鈥� along with a resolution passed in the Texas House regarding the interpretation of the illegal voting statute 鈥� are 鈥減ersuasive authority鈥� that the lower court鈥檚 interpretation of the law鈥檚 means rea requirement was incorrect, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled on Wednesday.
