cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/17108926
A Texas appeals court has overturned a Fort Worth woman’s voter fraud conviction and five-year prison term for casting an illegal provisional ballot.
Crystal Mason did not know that being on probation for a previous felony conviction left her ineligible to vote in 2016, the state 2nd District Court of Appeals in Fort Worth ruled Thursday.
Prosecutors maintained that Mason read and signed an affidavit accompanying the provisional ballot affirming that she had “fully completed” her sentence if convicted of a felony.
I’m glad it’s over for her, but she went through a lot to get there.
The Sentencing Project, which advocates for reducing punishment and expanding voting rights of felons nationwide, says Texas leads the nation by disenfranchising 450,000 citizens, or 2.5% of the state’s voting-age population, about two-thirds of them Black or Latino.
Now remember that black and white people use drugs at the same rate but black people get busted and punished more for the same behavior.
Black people make up less than 15 percent of the population and Hispanic people make up under 20. So 35% together should not be making up 66% of the prison population.
That would have never crossed my mind that people on probation might not be eligible to vote. In Germany even people in Jail can vote. Only in certain extreme cases a court can prevent them from voting for a maximum of 5 years.
