Texas woman gets 5 years for voting illegally

[bernorange 8348]

Quote

A woman sentenced to five years in prison for voting illegally in 2016 is one of more than 500,000 in Texas and 6 million nationally who have relinquished their right to vote because of felony convictions.

Individuals who have been convicted of felonies in Texas cannot vote until their sentences have been cleared, and that includes people on probation and parole, according to a report released in 2016 by The Sentencing Project, a criminal justice reform advocacy group.

Crystal Mason, 43, of Rendon was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday because she voted as a convicted felon on a previous fraud charge. She will appeal her sentence, her attorney said.

...

 

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article207391024.html

There is a lot to digest in that story.  I'm conflicted in my thoughts about the stripping of rights (voting, 2nd amendment) from convicted felons - especially for non-violent ones. 

[DixonHur 11154]

Either way, I think 5 years is a bit excessive, but my question is, was she informed ahead of time that she couldn't vote while out on parole?  Or was that something she was supposed to just know?

Also, it doesn't sound like she "fraudulently" voted in the sense that she used a fake ID or stolen identity, so why was she allowed to cast a vote at the polling station?  Shouldn't the voter registration database be cross referenced with the criminal database to ensure that those who shouldn't be voting, don't?

[bernorange 8348]

Just now, DixonHur said:

... so, it doesn't sound like she "fraudulently" voted in the sense that she used a fake ID or stolen identity, so why was she allowed to cast a vote at the polling station?  Shouldn't the voter registration database be cross referenced with the criminal database to ensure that those who shouldn't be voting, don't?

According to the article:

Quote

... she tried to vote in the 2016 presidential race and was given a provisional ballot to complete because election workers did not find her name on the voting rolls.

According to her testimony on Wednesday, Mason signed an affidavit stating that she had not been convicted of a felony, without closely examining the form.

If you sign a legal document, you better know what it says.  That's fraud, whether "innocent mistake" or not.

[DixonHur 11154]

Hmm, well then I think revoking her parole would have sufficed, but as I said before, I think a new 5 year stint is pretty excessive.  But, I guess she needs to read the doc more closely next time.

Edited April 1, 2018 by DixonHur

[pyrohornIII 4805]

There is another post on this topic somewhere here in Surly.  It also lists at least one other situation, one where a mom was ripped from her kids, IIRC.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13406]

What are you in for?

illegally submitting a provisional ballot.

[TwiceHorn 31240]

Just for clarity's sake, she wasn't on parole.  She was on "supervised release" as part of a federal sentence.  Like parole, you are under supervision and breaking the terms of supervision can get you thowed back in the joint, but commission of a new offense subjects you to the normal jeopardy.  Because vote fraud is typically a state issue, I assume the feds were fairly hands-off on it.

[ROFL BOX 6647]

Iowa woman votes 2x for Trump because "Trump said Hillary had rigged the system & illegals were voting for her, so I had to do my part" (type of thing, not an exact quote).

 

Sentenced to 2 years probation.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/terri-lynn-rote-iowa-vote-donald-trump-twice-two-years-probation-750-fine-a7900886.html

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13545]

Intentionally, with the felony conviction erased from her record once probation and fine are met. 

[DanRydell 799]

8 hours ago, bernorange said:

According to the article:

If you sign a legal document, you better know what it says.  That's fraud, whether "innocent mistake" or not.

People have a tendency to just sign whatever the hell is put in front of them, particularly when it's from an authority figure. I'd bet the form could have said she was the zodiac killer and she would have signed it.

[DixonHur 11154]

1 hour ago, ROFL BOX said:

Iowa woman votes 2x for Trump because "Trump said Hillary had rigged the system & illegals were voting for her, so I had to do my part" (type of thing, not an exact quote).

 

Sentenced to 2 years probation.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/terri-lynn-rote-iowa-vote-donald-trump-twice-two-years-probation-750-fine-a7900886.html

To be fair, she is white, so I think that counts as a mitigating circumstance.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

9 hours ago, bernorange said:

 

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article207391024.html

There is a lot to digest in that story.  I'm conflicted in my thoughts about the stripping of rights (voting, 2nd amendment) from convicted felons - especially for non-violent ones. 

I think when you've paid your debt to society voting rights should be reinstated, for violent crimes for sure.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13406]

1 hour ago, DanRydell said:

People have a tendency to just sign whatever the hell is put in front of them, particularly when it's from an authority figure. I'd bet the form could have said she was the zodiac killer and she would have signed it.

Come on.  We are all regularly given documents that are dozens of pages when we are performing some mundane signup and no one reads.  I guarantee most lawyers don’t waste time reading every document.  I rented some equipment at Home Depot today.  Didn’t read what I signed.  Say that the most I was out of pocket could be $1000. Didn’t care about the rest.  

[pyrohornIII 4805]

Here is the link to Pancho Negro's Voter Suppression thread.  It has this case and one other.

http://www.surlyhorns.com/board/index.php?/topic/895-voter-suppression/&tab=comments#comment-32531

That one about the lady voting twice for Trump...that's new. 

[Pancho 44437]

Meanwhile affluenza white teen gets 2 years in jail for killing 4 people then fleeing to a foreign country

Edited April 3, 2018 by Pancho Negro

[Swam@Texas 112]

On 4/1/2018 at 6:26 PM, DixonHur said:

To be fair, she is white, so I think that counts as a mitigating circumstance.

She also had not previously bilked the American people out of $4.2 million in a fraudulent tax return scam, so there's that. 

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article207176829.html

[bernorange 8348]

I don't understand why DixonHur and Pancho are insinuating racism when the circumstances in the cases that are referring to are very different and the sentencing for the perps are, essentially, for different reasons.

Edited April 3, 2018 by bernorange

[DanRydell 799]

The incredibly small number of voter fraud convictions make it tough to discern whether there’s racism involved in the sentencing.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

1 hour ago, DanRydell said:

The incredibly small number of voter fraud convictions make it tough to discern whether there’s racism involved in the sentencing.

But the stupidity of some of them bragging about voting mulitple times in an election is what's mind bottling.  So no racism doesn't really play a part, stupidity is the culprit, that and criminal behavior.

[Spankytoes 1735]

21 hours ago, Pancho Negro said:

Meanwhile affluenza white teen gets 2 years in jail for killing 4 people then fleeing to a foreign country

OJ killed his ex-wife and her lover and got away with it.

Edited April 3, 2018 by Spankytoes

[GotThatFire 166]

I thought voting rights were supposed to be reinstated after a certain time period, or upon completion of whatever punishment/requirements were set? No?

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

43 minutes ago, Spankytoes said:

OJ killed his ex-wife and her lover and got away with it.

I think it's totally cool of you kill your wife lovers.......  They're asking for it....

[GotThatFire 166]

Never mind I had a chance to read it...