FACT CHECK: Does This Photo Show Katie Hobbs In A Vote Tabulation Room During The 2022 Midterms?
A photo shared on Facebook allegedly shows Democrat Arizona gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs in a ballot room during the 2022 midterms.
Verdict: False
This woman in the photo is not Hobbs. A spokesperson for Maricopa County confirmed the photo is of a staff member of Maricopa County Elections.
Fact Check:
The gubernatorial race in Arizona remains too close to call as of Monday morning with around 93% of the vote in, The Washington Post reported. Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake did gain votes, but is still down by several tens of thousands of votes, The Associated Press reported.
The Facebook image appears to show a woman with brown hair and glasses, claiming it shows Hobbs. A timestamp in the bottom right corner shows the photo was taken on Nov. 9, a day after 2022 midterm elections. “Why is Katie Hobbs in the Ballot room?” the post reads. “The guy behind her knows.”
The claim was also posted to Twitter, where it garnered over 9,000 retweets.
How the fuck is this even legal? 😡 pic.twitter.com/6Xp63YPY4w
— Jim Henry Rafalin🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JimRafalin) November 10, 2022
The caption is inaccurate. A photo from Reuters shows that Hobbs has grey hair and a squarer jaw, unlike the woman in the photo. There are no credible news outlets suggesting Hobbs was present at any vote tabulation centers in Arizona on that date.
The woman later identified herself on Twitter as an election judge. (RELATED: Did The Federal Reserve Put Up Walls Around Its Building Ahead Of The 2022 Midterms?)
Here she is again…oh wait, that’s me and my brilliant GenZ girl!
I work the polls so magas can’t try to cheat.😏 pic.twitter.com/y1aTBcqAA4— jackie marshall (@justjax66) November 10, 2022
“Here she is again…oh wait, that’s me and my brilliant GenZ girl!
I work the polls so magas can’t try to cheat,” the woman said in a post.
Maricopa County’s verified Twitter account also debunked the claim in a tweet. “Not every woman with glasses is Katie Hobbs. We can confirm this was a party Observer,” it reads in part.
“This is a staff member of Maricopa Count(y) Elections and not the Secretary of State,” a spokesperson for Maricopa County confirmed in an email to Check Your Fact.
Misinformation about the midterm elections has spread widely online following its conclusion. Check Your Fact Recently debunked a claim Washington state voters could cast their ballots online.
