Texas Democrats have come to the aid of a Texas woman sentenced to five years in prison for trying to vote
Former tax preparer Crystal Mason was on supervised release after serving five years for tax fraud when she cast a provisional ballot in the 2016 presidential election. It wasn't counted but she was convicted of voter fraud.
Those who haven't finished their sentences are not eligible to vote. Mason says that's something she was never told.
State representative John Bucy is among the Texas Democrats who went to Washington D.C. last week to prevent a quorum at the state legislature. He and others met with Mason.
Bucy says the Tarrant County woman at first was so discouraged she said she would never vote again, but she's since changed her mind. "Because she realizes it was elected officials going after her, it was elected officials putting her in this situation. So therefore the vote is the only answer to stopping oppressive elected officials."
State Representative Carl Sherman is also in the nation's capitol. He says 12,000 provisional ballots have been cast in Tarrant County since 2014. "Seven out of eight were rejected. It's interesting that Crystal Mason seems to be the only one they're prosecuting. Crystal Mason is their poster child who they want to go after."
Bucy says "House Bill 3, which we are here to defeat would increase more areas under the election law where mistakes can be a crime. So we need to stop this. That's one of the many reasons we oppose House Bill 3."
Mason's case is pending in front of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
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