‘Victory is the outcome,' Crystal Mason speaks after acquittal

As a nearly decade-long fight over a provisional ballot that was never counted comes to an end, Mason continues her focus on mobilizing voters.

Crystal Mason said Monday she is still “trying to process” the end of a years-long legal fight that began with a provisional ballot cast in the 2016 election.

Mason, civil rights advocates, and attorneys spoke Monday outside the Old Tarrant County Courthouse, four days after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed the state's petition for review in her case, leaving her acquittal in place.

"Just thinking about all the years, the jobs that I lost, almost losing my house," Mason said, "everything that I went through over this ballot, this provisional ballot that never counted."

Mason described the nearly decade-long ordeal as "unreal."

Mason was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to five years in prison for voting in Tarrant County while ineligible in the 2016 election.

When election workers couldn't find her name on the voter rolls, Mason was given a provisional ballot, which she signed and submitted. The ballot was never counted.

At the center of the years-long legal fight was whether there was sufficient evidence to prove Mason knew she was ineligible to vote when she cast the ballot.

In 2024, the Second Court of Appeals found the evidence insufficient and reversed Mason's conviction, rendering an acquittal. After the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed the state's petition seeking review of that decision last week, the acquittal was left in place.

“I'm acquitted, and I'm finally acquitted,” Mason said Monday.

From 'I'm never going to vote again' to registering voters

Mason and her attorneys focused on the emotional strain of the past eight years and how her relationship with voting changed during the years that followed her conviction.

Attorney Alison Grinter, who has represented Mason since 2018, recalled meeting a woman who was frightened and facing the possibility of five years in prison.

“I saw a woman who was trying to make herself as small as possible,” Grinter said.

She recalled Mason repeatedly telling her, “I'm never going to vote again.”

Mason described the experience Monday in her own words, recalling the difficulty of returning to custody after an earlier federal conviction and trying to rebuild her life.

“I kept saying, God, why me? Why me? He said, 'Why not you?'” Mason said.

Mason said her faith helped her find a purpose in what she had experienced.

“I had to stand and just ask God, ‘What do I do? How do I get through this?’ And he kept saying, ‘Trust me. Victory is the outcome. Trust me.’”

After her release, Mason turned her experience into voter outreach, starting an organization called Crystal Mason: The Fight Against Voter Suppression and registering voters alongside members of her family.

“That was my sanity,” Mason said. “That was where I was able to talk to people and let people know how powerful your voice was, how you can make a change.”

Political focus turns to November

Monday's event also took on an explicitly political tone, with several speakers criticizing Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells and other Republican officials and urging voters to oppose them in the November election.

Sorrells' office defended its handling of the case following Thursday's decision.

“Illegal voting remains a crime in Texas,” Sorrells said in a statement to NBC 5. “If there is evidence that someone knowingly violates our election laws in Tarrant County, we will investigate it and, when the evidence supports it, prosecute it.”

The district attorney's office also emphasized that the Court of Criminal Appeals did not rule on the merits of the lower court's decision. The court dismissed the state's petition in a 5-4 decision, with four judges dissenting.

Also speaking Monday was Ebony Turner, the Democratic nominee for Texas House District 96. Turner said that if elected, she plans to introduce legislation she called the “Crystal Mason Voter Protection Act” during the next legislative session.

Turner did not provide details Monday about what the proposed legislation would include.

For Mason, however, Monday was largely about reaching the end of a case that has followed her for years.

“I'm just, again, just trying to process everything,” Mason said. “And I'm just grateful for everybody standing in my corner.”