Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Upholds Acquittal of Crystal Mason in Voting Case
On September 24, 2026, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, rejected efforts to revive the conviction of Crystal Mason, leaving her acquittal in place. This decision comes eight years after Mason was convicted of illegal voting in Texas and sentenced to five years in prison. Her conviction stemmed from casting a provisional ballot in the 2016 presidential election while on federal supervised release for a prior tax-fraud conviction. Mason maintained she was unaware that her supervised release status made her ineligible to vote, and her provisional ballot was never actually counted. In March 2024, the Texas Second Court of Appeals reversed her conviction, finding insufficient evidence to prove she knowingly voted illegally. Prosecutors had subsequently attempted to challenge this reversal, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has now affirmed the acquittal, effectively ending the legal battle for Mason.
