Texas prosecutor Phil Sorrells from Tarrant County will appeal the acquittal of Crystal Mason, who was initially sentenced to five years in prison, The Guardian reported. A higher court ruled last month that Mason unintentionally tried to vote in 2016, without knowing that she was ineligible because she was on supervised release for a felony.
Initially, election workers had said that they believed Mason had read an affidavit warning that someone cannot vote until they complete “any term of incarceration, parole, supervision, parole or probation”. Mason says she did not read the affidavit and that no one ever told her she could not vote. It is currently undisputed that she was never told she could not vote. Mason has already had to serve an additional 10 months in federal prison while she appeals the state conviction. She remains free on an appeal bond in Fort Worth.