Supporters rally for Texas woman after DA appeals ruling to overturn illegal voting conviction

On the steps of the Tarrant County courthouse Saturday, a rallying cry rang out with dozens of community leaders and members throwing their support behind Crystal Mason.

“First of all, I’d like to say thank you everybody who came out and showed up in the community,” Crystal Mason said to the crowd.

Those gathered were challenging an effort to convict Mason of voter fraud, a crime she was charged with in 2018 after voting with a provisional ballot while on probation for a felony conviction.

Mason and her legal team maintain she didn’t know that made her ineligible.

“This is ridiculous. It’s a bit much that we keep going back and forth and wasting taxpayer dollars,” said Angela Rainey with the League of Women Voters.

Last month, a Texas appeals court overturned the original conviction, finding that the state’s evidence wasn’t sufficient “to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mason actually knew that being on supervised release after having served her entire federal sentence made her ineligible to vote by casting a provisional ballot.”

But this week, Tarrant County District Phil Sorrells called to overturn that decision, saying the court’s review process didn’t follow the law correctly.

“I want would-be illegal voters to know that we’re watching you, that we’ll follow the law, and that we’ll prosecute illegal voting,” said Sorrells at the county commissioner’s court.

Saturday’s crowd said they believe it’s a move that’s politically motivated… focused on voter suppression rather than Mason’s case.

 “Why then are we prosecuting someone who is trying to live up to the responsibilities as an American?” said Deborah Peoples during Saturday’s rally.

Organizers used Saturday’s event to register new voters and encourage everyone to make their voices heard.