A woman in Texas has been sentenced to five years in prison because she voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election.
Crystal Mason of Tarrant County, Texas, cast a provisional ballot, signing a form stating she was not a felon. However, she was still on probation for a previous felony tax fraud conviction and was on supervised release, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Mason, 43, elected to have District Judge Ruben Gonzalez sentence her, rather than going before a jury. Her defense was that no one ever told her she couldn’t vote because of her conviction.
Mason said she didn’t even want to vote, but was convinced by her mother to do so.
“I was happy enough to come home and see my daughter graduate,” she told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “My son is about to graduate. Why would I jeopardize that? Not to vote.”
An appeal has been filed for Mason’s release.
"I don't think I'll ever vote again," Mason told the Star-Telegram. "That's being honest. I’ll never vote again."
An illegal immigrant was sentenced earlier this year in Tarrant County to eight years in prison for voting illegally and also faces deportation at the end of her sentence, the Star-Telegram reported. Illegal voting is a second-degree felony that can be penalized by up to 20 years in jail and a $10,000 fine.
It’s “very likely the government is sending a stern message about illegal voting,” associate University of Texas in Arlington government professor Allan Saxe said, the Star-Telegram reported. “I believe it has been difficult to disprove illegal voting, but it has been made an issue.”
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