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Some people like to keep their voting preferences private, but if you’re proud to show who you support, we have some good news for you: you can wear hats, t-shirts, buttons and other paraphernalia when voting.
Voter Orlando Machado called NBC6 after he says had to teach that lesson this morning to the poll workers at the Miami Lakes-area precinct he’s been going to for more than 35 years.
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NBC6 did not witness the exchange Machado said happened inside his Miami-Dade County precinct but we did confirm that a poll worker was unaware that a voter could wear campaign attire while in the act of voting. The precinct was reminded of the rule when that called for guidance.
When the registered Republican walked into Sunrise Presbyterian Church wearing his red Make America Great Again hat he said four poll workers “jumped up and came towards me. I felt attacked.”
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Machado, a 65-year-old CPA dealing lately in real estate, said they told him hats like his weren’t allowed.
He said they were wrong, telling them, “This is clear. Please check with your supervisors.”
But they insisted, he said, telling him, “‘No sir. You got to get out.’ So I went to my car, dropped the hat, and come back in and I voted because I was not going to let them rob me of my constitutional right. But I kept complaining.”
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Eventually, Machado said one of the poll workers he had talked to called into county elections headquarters and found out Machado was, indeed, correct.
“He called in and said, ‘No, you're right. So I went back to my car, picked up my hat and I asked, ‘Don’t you think you guys owe me an apology?.’ They said absolutely not,” Machado recounted.
The county tells us voters are allowed to bring paraphernalia — such as hats, buttons, t-shirts — into polling places when they vote. But you can’t carry signs or hand out pamphlets or otherwise solicit others’ votes once you’re within 150 feet of the polling site.
