The System, even in Texas, gets it Right……
Crystal Mason voted with a provisional ballot in 2016 but, she has said, did not know she was ineligible to do so at the time. The ballot was not counted, but she was convicted of illegal voting in 2018.
Texas Second Court of Appeals Judge Wade Birdwell ruled Thursday that there was not enough evidence to show Mason had known she was ineligible to vote.
The case had been seen as an example of a GOP-led crackdown on alleged voter fraud in Texas, and Mason’s attorneys had framed it as an attempt at intimidating other voters, particularly people of color and those returning from prison, by making an example of Mason.
Visibly emotional, Mason told reporters on a Zoom call Friday that she cried when she learned of the ruling.
“When I got the news yesterday, I was just overwhelmed with joy. It’s been a long journey,” she said through tears. “It’s been really, really, really hard on me, but I’m just so grateful.”
Mason, a former tax preparer, had served a prison sentence for federal tax fraud after pleading guilty to inflating her clients’ tax returns in 2012 and was on supervised release in 2016.
She didn’t know that made her ineligible to vote when she cast a provisional ballot at her polling place in Tarrant County, Tex., she said. She went to vote with her family and was told by a poll worker that she wasn’t on the rolls but could fill out a provisional ballot.
She had no idea she would soon be indicted on a charge of illegal voting. She later said that she would not have jeopardized her freedom by submitting a ballot and would have left the polling place if she’d known she wasn’t allowed to vote…..
Yet another example of what can happen when pre-clearance under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Republicans and Trumpers in the red and purple states are constantly thinking of ways to reduce the Democratic, progressive, and/or minority, proportion of the electorate.
The Court had what seems to me a plausible reason in considering outdated the database of states and authorities that had violated the 14th Amendment (and were thus required to require U.S. Justice Department permission to alter their election laws or practices).
But in the real world long after 1965, there was no way Congress was going to institute a more up-to-date list of candidates for pre-clearance.
As we see with Trump’s Stephen Miller leadership?
States and the even the Alito 5 are working OVERTIME to ‘take things back’ to the good ole dayts when white people COULD just tell Black, Brown and Yellow people?
‘Step to Rear’……
And they ARE up front about it….
Oh, I forgot to ad women to the list to be put back into place….
It seems to be more complicated that that, James.
Last year, to our mild surprise, the Supreme Court upheld the VRA against Alabama’s denial of a second predominantly-black Congressional seat.
The vote was the 3 liberal Justices, joined not only by Chief Justice Roberts (appointed by GWBush) but also by Bret Kavanaugh, one of your Alito 5.
NPR story
I had been referring to an earlier decision, Shelby (County, Alabama) vs [US AG Eric] Holder in 2013, three years before Donald Trump’s presidency.
The Court rendered pre-clearance moot (or dormant until a more-up-to-date list of jurisdictions subject to pre-clearance.
According to Wikipedia’s article on Shelby vs Holder:
On June 25, 2013, the Court ruled by a 5 to 4 vote that Section 4(b) was unconstitutional because the coverage formula was based on data over 40 years old, making it no longer responsive to current needs and therefore an impermissible burden on the constitutional principles of federalism and equal sovereignty of the states.[2][3] The Court did not strike down Section 5, but without Section 4(b), no jurisdiction will be subject to Section 5 preclearance unless Congress enacts a new coverage formula.[4]
The opinions filed were:
Majority Roberts, joined by Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Alito
Concurrence Thomas
Dissent Ginsburg, joined by Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan
Thanks DSD…
As my wife points out….
Sometimes lawyers do a intricate dance to justify what they want….
So?
When stuff like this happens we ARE INDEED SURPRISED🙄😳❗️
Long, complicated, post stuck in moderation.
Sorry DSD…..
Ur up…..
Why the Hell is there even” moderation “ on this site anyway?
For the same five or six people who’ve been here for the past 15 years?
I mean what the Hell ?
Jack?
Between bots, unsavory characters, russian’s adnm what ever?
THOUSANDS. get ‘moderated’ and depp sixed….
You have NO IDEA…..