Social media users have been left confused and are debating over a photograph that claims to show Katie Hobbs, Democratic candidate for governor of Arizona, walking through a ballot-counting center in Maricopa County, the state's largest voting district. The woman in the photo definitely resembles Hobbs but it is not the Democratic candidate.
The claim is completely baseless and false and has been clarified by a spokesperson for Maricopa County. The internet has been trying to know the reality behind the photograph for the past 24 hours as the Hobbs has a lot of resemblance to the woman in the photograph and anyone can be left confused.
Absurd Tweet
The photo sparked a debate after it was tweeted on Thursday. The claim appeared in the comment for a photo on Twitter on Thursday, which seemed to be a retweet from a Twitter account (@barbara0320). Interestingly, the account contains no tweets, raising questions about the authenticity of the claim from the very beginning.
The tweet read: "Why is Katie Hobbs in the ballot room. This is going to blow up in the democrats face. Space Force is watching"
The post that includes a photo shows a brown-haired woman wearing glasses walking inside a room where votes are being counted appears. However, it is unclear if her hair is brown or grey although it looks like it is brown.
Moreover, the photo appears to be a still frame from a security camera recording. The photos' timestamp indicates that they were taken on November 9, 2022, at 10:07 a.m.
This is where the confusion was created. First, the woman has some resemblance to Hobbs. Second, the timestamp coincides with the day ballots were being counted across the country.
However, even then, the photograph appears to be fake because the woman in the image is not wearing any identifying details that would identify her as Hobbs, the secretary of state for Arizona.
Moreover, Hobbs, although does wear glasses like the woman in the photo, she has gray hair and the woman in the photo appears to have brown hair.
Nothing True
If this is not proof enough, fact checking website Lead Stories, which contacted a spokesperson for Maricopa Country, clarified that the woman definitely exits and was also there at the ballot counting center but is not Hobbs but a party election observer. This puts an end to all the doubts.
Also, the photo in the tweet doesn't show up in reverse image searches, and it doesn't have a location label either. Maricopa County, Arizona, officials, also denied on Twitter on November 10, 2022, that the woman in the picture was Hobbs.
The text on the county's official Twitter account stated, " "Not every woman with glasses is Katie Hobbs," However, the tweet was later flagged as an alleged violation of Twitter Rules for unclear reasons.
Although the photograph is still being circulated on social media and is gaining massive traction, the account from where it was first tweeted has been suspended by Twitter. This further makes clear that the claim is completely false and baseless and is an attempt by someone to spread misinformation.
