Crystal Mason, center, and her attorneys answer questions regarding her acquittal in a high-profile voting rights case at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth on March 29, 2024. The Texas Second Court of Appeals reversed Mason’s conviction, for which she had faced five years in prison after submitting a provisional ballot in Tarrant County in 2016 that was never counted as a vote.
Chris Torres
ctorres@star-telegram.com
The highest criminal court in Texas ended a decade-long case for a North Texas mother when her 2016 illegal voting case was dismissed on Thursday, according to a news release from ACLU.
In a 5-4 decision, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed state prosecutors’ appeal, ruling that its previous decision to review the acquittal was “improvident”, according to court documents.
“In all these years, I never lost my faith that justice would be done. I am so happy my nightmare is over and I can move on,” Mason said in the release. ”I hope people who hear my story are encouraged to make their voices heard and to get out and vote. If the right to vote weren’t so important, they wouldn’t be trying to take it away.”
A lower court’s decision, which is upheld by the appeals court ruling, vacates Mason’s conviction and marks an end to nearly “decade-long legal battle to defend her innocence,” the release stated.
Mason was accused of illegally voting with a provisional ballot in 2016 in Tarrant County while on supervised release for a 2012 tax fraud conviction. The vote was never counted, and her attorneys have argued that Mason did not know she was not eligible to vote.
Two years later, a state district judge found Mason guilty of voting illegally, sentencing her to five years in prison. Texas law forbids residents with felony judgments from voting until they have finished the full terms of their sentence. The case drew national and international attention over voter rights.
Mason was cleared of the illegal voting charge in March 2024 when the Texas 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth overturned the conviction. The decision was appealed by the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, led by District Attorney Phil Sorrells.
“This is a momentous day for voting rights in Texas. For nearly 10 years, Ms. Mason had to wake up each morning knowing the state was threatening to imprison her for simply doing her civic duty,” her criminal defense attorney Alison Grinter said in the release. “Tomorrow, she’ll wake up with that burden lifted, knowing that her effort to participate in our democracy should never have been criminalized and that she can continue to do the voter empowerment work that she has been championing for all of these years.”
“We are grateful that the Court allowed Crystal Mason’s acquittal to stand and finally brought this nearly decade-long injustice to an end. For years, while Crystal lived with the agonizing threat of having her freedom ripped away, she turned her pain into purpose — educating and registering voters and fighting to protect the very right that led to her prosecution,” civil defense attorney Kim T. Cole said in the release. “However, justice does not end with an acquittal. Crystal suffered through years of legal battles against a prosecution which we have always maintained was politically motivated and never should have happened.”
Mason’s case was prosecuted by the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office. In a statement Thursday, the DA’s Office said that the appeals court kept the reversal of Mason’s conviction in place without deciding on the merits of the prosecutors’ arguments.
Prosecutors had argued that the 2nd Court of Appeals applied the wrong legal standard when evaluating the evidence. The DA’s Office noted that four of the higher court judges dissented from the decision to dismiss the appeal. “Multiple dissenting judges concluded the evidence was legally sufficient to support Mason’s conviction,” the DA’s Office said.
“Illegal voting remains a crime in Texas,” District Attorney Sorrells said in the release. “If there is evidence that someone knowingly violates our election laws in Tarrant County, we will investigate it and, when the evidence supports it, prosecute it.”
“A lawful vote should never be canceled out by an unlawful one. Voters deserve confidence that our elections are fair and that the law will be enforced,” Sorrells said. “Our responsibility has not changed: enforce the law fairly, protect the integrity of our elections, and pursue justice without fear or favor.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2026 at 5:14 PM.
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Shambhavi covers crime, law enforcement and other breaking news in Fort Worth and Tarrant County. She graduated from the University of North Texas and previously covered a variety of general assignment topics in West Texas. She grew up in Nepal.