Texas Woman Sentenced To Prison For Five Years For Trying To Vote; Gets New Appeal

A Texas woman sentenced to five years in prison for trying to vote has received a new appeal for her case. 

On Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals announced that it would be looking into an appeal from Crystal Mason. Back in 2016, Mason was sent to prison for five years, all because she cast a provisional ballot in the 2016 election. 

“She’s absolutely buoyed,” attorney Alison Grinter told NBC News on Wednesday, the outlet reports. “Her family is just over the moon today that she literally lives to fight another day.” NBC News reports that Mason is currently out on bond. 

Her five-year sentence all stems from when she was convicted of tax fraud back in 2011. In 2016, Mason was on supervised release from prison when she went to the polls to vote. With the help of a poll worker, Mason cast a provisional ballot event though she wasn’t on the voter rolls. NBC News reports local officials discovered she wasn’t eligible to vote because of her conviction. Eventually, she was charged with knowingly voting illegally.

Now, Mason has made it a point to put voting rights at the top of her priority list as an activist. “It’s really important to her that people not see her story and get discouraged from going to the ballot box, because she feels like that’s exactly what the Tarrant County district attorney wants to have happen,” she said.