Woman Who Received 5-Year Sentence in Voter Fraud Case Is Acquitted
New York TimesMar 30
Texas: Woman Sentenced for Voter Fraud Is Acquitted
Image copyright: Tom Pennington/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
A Texas appeals court has thrown out a five-year prison sentence that was handed down to a Texas woman, Crystal Mason, over casting an ineligible ballot in the 2016 election.
Mason was serving the end of a tax felony sentence on probation, but she claimed she didn't know she was ineligible to vote while serving the sentence. Prosecutors argued that the necessary information was included on the ballot.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
This is a win for voting rights, particularly for Black voters whom Republican-led states wish to make voting harder. Several Republicans have been convicted of far more egregious voter fraud, including a Georgia GOP vice chairman who voted nine times — but unlike Mason, he was given no prison sentence, only a $5K fine. The party that claims to care about voter fraud is letting its own members off the hook while giving criminals from their team a slap on the wrist.
Republican narrative
While Democrats will try and spin this into a civil rights issue, the truth is that Ms. Mason only completed three of her five years in prison, the following two of which she was still a convicted felon and couldn't vote. Mason, who upon her release swore not to lie about her felon status, was part of a growing problem in Texas, which continued years later when the state prosecuted over 30 cases in 2018.