In 2016, Crystal Mason visited her Texas polling site and cast a provisional ballot in the presidential election. She was on supervised release for a federal tax fraud conviction and didn’t know she was ineligible to vote. When Mason’s name didn’t show up on the voter rolls, an election worker suggested she fill out the provisional ballot that helps ensure a person’s eligibility will be checked. Mason’s provisional ballot was never counted — a sign the election processes worked.

A few months later, the district attorney’s office in Tarrant County, where she lives, indicted Mason for filling out the provisional ballot. In 2018, she was convicted of illegal voting and sentenced to five years in prison. Because of her conviction, she was later sent to prison for 10 months for violating the terms of her supervised release.

Mason appealed her illegal voting conviction. In March 2024, a Texas appeals court acquitted her. One month later, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office announced it would seek to overturn the ruling. Mason is still waiting for resolution.

Mason’s legal saga comes amid a push by Republicans nationwide to target what they claim is widespread voter fraud, though research shows it’s rare. Voting rights experts worry that Mason’s experience, particularly as a Black woman, could dissuade eligible voters from casting ballots if they fear potential legal issues.

Mason remembers some of her first interviews after her conviction — she vowed to never vote again. Now she knows that was by design.

“What happened to me was devastating,” she said. “It was scary — a mother, a grandmother — about to be losing seeing their grandkids, that’s the first thing you would say. Like, ‘Oh, I’ll never vote again.’ If this could happen to me, I'll never vote again.’ And that’s the reason why I had to change the dynamics of it. I had to let people know that’s exactly what they wanted you to see.” 

Mason has become a vocal advocate for voting rights. She’s involved with get-out-the-vote efforts to help people with civic engagement. She was on a recent call with national voting organizers following a major Supreme Court ruling that further dismantled the Voting Rights Act.

Mason doesn’t want people to give up hope in their ability to enact change — and she wants eligible voters to participate in democracy.

“I want people to understand that their vote is their voice — and it matters,” she said.