A Miami police officer will be disciplined after wearing a pro-Trump face mask in full uniform with a badge and his gun near an early voting site on Tuesday, October 20.
Per BuzzFeed News, the officer's actions have been described as a "brazen act of intimidation".
Ubeda was spotted wearing the mask, which read, "Trump 2020, No More Bulls**t" by Steve Simeonidis, the chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.
Steve Simeonidis was passing through the lobby of the Stephen P. Clark Government Center in downtown Miami around 10:30AM. According to Simeonidis, Ubeda came within 10 feet of people who were voting.
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However, Florida law only permits voters, poll workers, official poll watchers, and others who have been approved by election supervisors to enter a voting site.
It is not permitted under any circumstances to solicit voters inside or within 150 feet of the entrance to a polling site. The intimidation of voters is also illegal.
Simeonidis told BuzzFeed News that he was in disbelief at the sight of the police officer wearing the mask nearing a polling site, and felt the need to capture the moment in a picture.
"I just said, 'Excuse me, officer, I just want to take a picture,' and he made some snide comment," Simeonidis said.
"He called me 'sweetheart' or something like that - just complete disregard of the fact that he was intentionally intimidating voters at the polling location."
It is unclear whether Ubeda was at the polling site to vote himself or not.
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"In my mind, it's per se voter intimidation," Simeonidis said. "He knew exactly what he was doing when he was walking into that polling site with a gun and that mask on."
He watched as Ubeda "hovered" around the early voting site in "full view of dozens of people that were casting their ballots."
"It was a brazen act of intimidation," Simeonidis added.
The Miami Police Department's official Twitter has since referred to the incident as "unacceptable".
The Department wrote: "We are aware of the photograph being circulated of a Miami Police officer wearing a political mask in uniform. This behavior is unacceptable, a violation of departmental policy, and is being addressed immediately."
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Deputy Police Chief Ron Papier told the Miami Herald that "appropriate disciplinary action" will be taken against Ubeda. It is not clear what that action will be.
"Obviously this is a clear violation of our department policy regarding campaigning while on duty," Papier said. "Additionally, the mask has offensive language, which is also a violation of department policy."
Early voting in Florida had begun on Monday, October 19, the day before the Trump mask incident.
Miami authorities had announced they would be deploying unuinformed officers near polling sites to reassure "scared" voters, per Buzzfeed.
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Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina also said there would be more officers in uniform around the city.
"We are going to have a robust presence of uniformed personnel out and about in the streets so everyone can see we are available," Colina said.
Simeonidis is urging Miami Mayor Francis Suarez to end the deployment of officers near polling locations.
"That may have been crafted with the best intentions, but in practice, it has catastrophic effects and I would urge the city to immediately reverse that and ensure that polls are secure through a subtle ununiformed presence if any," he said.