Thread by @TexasTribune

1/ Crystal Mason’s provisional ballot in 2016 was never counted.

But she was sentenced to five years in prison for voting while on supervised release for a federal felony.

A state appellate court has declined to overturn her conviction.

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2/ During the 2016 presidential election, Mason submitted a provisional ballot on the advice of a poll worker.

A month later, she learned that her ballot had been rejected, and a few months after that, she was arrested.

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3/ Prosecutors argued she knowingly violated a law prohibiting felons from voting before completing their sentences.

Mason said she would never have risked her freedom if she knew she was ineligible.

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4/ Mason’s conviction hinged on an affidavit she signed swearing she had completed all her punishment and supervision as a felon.

A poll worker testified he watched Mason read each line. Mason said she did not read that side of the paper.

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5/ Texas law allows convicted felons to vote once they’ve completed their “sentence,” including any “parole or supervision.”

Mason’s lawyers argue it’s not clear that federal “supervised release” lines up with “supervision” under that law.

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6/6 The three-judge panel did not see any ambiguity.

"The fact that she did not know she was legally ineligible to vote was irrelevant to her prosecution," Justice Wade Birdwell wrote.

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