Prison overcrowding is a problem, which makes it especially frustrating to hear about people getting locked up for non-violent, vaguely criminal behavior. Case in point: Crystal Mason. As The Washington Post reported, Mason was arrested for voting on probation and sentenced to over five years in prison.
Here’s a bit of context. Mason was previously convicted of fraud in 2012 for augmenting her client’s returns on their taxes. Mason was unaware that by following her mother’s advice to vote, she would be violating the terms of her probation. When she went to her polling place in Tarrant County in Texas, her name wasn’t on the voter roll, so someone working the polls gave her a provisional ballot. While the ballot did have some fine print about felony and parole status, I guess Mason overlooked it, the way most of us look at an Apple user agreement, (ain’t no one got time for that).
Mason was subsequently arrested when one election worker pointed out to the Tarrant County district attorney’s office that her ballot wasn’t accepted. Understandably, Mason is traumatized by the ordeal.
“I don’t think I’ll ever vote again. That’s being honest. I’ll never vote again,” she told the Fort WorthStar-Telegram. “They tell you certain things like you can’t be around a felon, you can’t have a gun. No one actually said, ‘Hey, you can’t vote this year,’” she said.
While we take pause to lament this gross failure of the system, it’s worth noting that Mason isn’t just a woman, she is also black—a largely underserved demographic when it comes to the voting process for many reasons. Even worse, Mason’s ballot wasn’t even counted in the election, but she was still held accountable for voting at all.
