Crystal Mason decided to vote in the 2016 election because her mother urged her to exercise her right as a citizen. However, Mason allegedly lost the right to vote because she was a felon under supervision in Texas, according to The Washington Post.
Mason, 43, was recently released from federal prison for tax fraud because she inflated tax returns for her clients. While out of prison, she was working to be a model citizen and take care of her children.
But casting a vote in 2016 has ruined her life. Mason was convicted of voter fraud and sentenced to five years in prison. Before casting her vote, she was not told by her probation officer that she did not have the right to vote.
Texas’ stringent voter ID laws are just another form of racism and voter suppression against Blacks.
Blacks have always faced voter suppression in America. Prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, states passed laws such as the poll tax and literacy tests to discourage Blacks from voting. And those were the polite versions of voter suppression. The KKK and other White racist mobs often threatened violence against Black voters similar to threats made in Oklahoma City in 1922.
Other tactics for voter suppression include gerrymandering to lessen the power of the Black vote in certain areas. And Voter ID laws of this era have been used to intimidate Blacks and individuals who live in rural areas who may not have a driver’s license or ID.
Donald Trump used his platform to suggest that there is widespread voter fraud. He even created a council to look into voter fraud in the 2016 election because more people voted for Hillary Clinton. However, the council was suspended because there was no real evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Leaders in the Black community must speak up for people like Mason and speak out against horrific voter ID laws that are another form of legal racism. Because no one deserves to lose five years of their life for casting a vote.
