Crystal Mason prevails in fight over illegal voting conviction

Texas' highest criminal court dismissed an appeal by prosecutors attempting to reinstate Crystal Mason's 2018 conviction for illegally voting in the 2016 presidential election, effectively upholding a lower court's reversal of her five-year prison sentence. The Court of Criminal Appeals determined it had mistakenly agreed to hear the case, though four Republican judges dissented, arguing there was sufficient evidence that Mason knowingly voted illegally while on supervised release for a tax fraud conviction. Mason, who maintained throughout the years-long legal battle that she was unaware of her ineligibility when she cast a provisional ballot on a poll worker's advice, expressed relief at the outcome.