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Year: 2024

Early in-person voting begins in DC, Colorado

Early in-person voting begins in DC, Colorado

Early in-person voting kicked off in both Washington, D.C., and Colorado on Monday. Here is everything you need to know to cast a ballot. There are two competitive House districts across the states that began voting Friday: EMINEM CAMPAIGNS FOR KAMALA HARRIS. WILL IT SWAY DETROIT VOTERS? This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for Colorado. Absentee voting kicked off in Colorado on Oct. 11. Residents do not need to provide an excuse to receive a ballot. The state proactively mailed ballots to eligible voters between Oct. 11 and Oct. 18. Those ballots must be delivered to state officials by Nov. 5. TRUMP ADVISER UNPACKS WHY FORMER PRESIDENT IS HOLDING RALLY IN DEEP-BLUE STATE WEEKS FROM ELECTION Colorado offers early in-person voting, but it varies by location. Be sure to check the state’s election website for early voting dates and locations.  Colorado residents can register to vote in person, by mail or online at any point during early voting and on Election Day. Oct. 28 is the last day to register to vote and receive a mail ballot. This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., began absentee voting on Monday. Registered voters do not need to apply for a ballot, as the district began sending ballots to all active registered voters starting Sept. 30. Ballots can be returned by mail or in person through Election Day. Washington, D.C., will begin early in-person voting on Oct. 28, and it will run through Nov. 3. The deadline for residents to register to vote online or by mail was Oct. 15. They can also register in-person during early voting (Oct. 28-Nov. 3) and on Election Day.

‘Bad policy’: Minnesota lawmaker says Walz gas tax increase will hurt lower-income residents the most

‘Bad policy’: Minnesota lawmaker says Walz gas tax increase will hurt lower-income residents the most

The top Republican lawmaker on the Minnesota legislature’s tax committee is slamming Gov. Tim Walz, over “bad” and “lazy” tax policy pertaining to the state’s excise tax on gasoline, which the lawmaker indicated hurts lower-income residents in his state the most.  “There’s generally some pretty strong resistance to putting anything on inflators, because that – I call it the ‘lazy man’s tax increase’ – because what you do then is you never have to come back through the legislature to justify another tax increase,” said Rep. Greg Davids, the top Republican guiding tax policy in the state. “Some rich person, if [the excise tax] is on an inflator and it goes up 10 cents a gallon, they say, so what? But for the person in the district I represent, that drives 35 miles to work at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, or different jobs in Rochester, that’s a lot of money, and now it goes up every year, no matter what.” Davids has been on the state legislature’s tax committee for nine terms, including three as chair and four as Republican lead, and he argued Friday that the decision to tie the state’s gas tax to an index was “very poor tax policy,” citing its regressive nature and the fact that it is “hurting the poorest of the poor” the hardest. WALZ FACES BACKLASH AFTER DEFENDING OBAMA-ERA MANDATE REPEALED BY TRUMP: ‘MASSIVE TAX PENALTY’ “I try to stay away from regressive taxes. I try to stay away from inflators,” Davids said. “Because if your cause is good enough, you’ll get your increase. But to put something out there, where it just happens with no representation of the people, that’s bad tax policy in my estimation.” In 2019, Walz’s first budget proposal as governor intended to increase the state’s gas tax 70%, which would have made the state among those with the highest gasoline excise tax in the nation, behind California, Pennsylvania, Washington and Illinois. The proposal was passed by the Democrat-controlled House but stalled once it made it to the Senate.  Later, during an election year in 2022, Walz called on the federal government to suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline. Minnesota Republican Party Chair David Hann called the move a “laughable political stunt” at the time, considering that Walz and his Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) colleagues have “always supported” increasing the gas tax.  Currently, Minnesota’s gas tax ranking is on the lower end of the spectrum, but that will change after next year’s index increase. Such an increase will move Minnesota up the list 11 spots, making it the 21st-highest in the nation. BLUE STATE REGULATORS COULD HIKE PRICE AT PUMP JUST DAYS AFTER ELECTION, GOP LAWMAKERS WARN Under Walz, the state of Minnesota did see tax cuts for the middle class, such as an increased child tax credit and reducing the Social Security tax rate. However, Davids questioned what Walz and his fellow DFL members did to squander a record high nearly $18 billion budget surplus in 2023. Meanwhile, by 2026, the state of Minnesota is expected to see a roughly $1.5 billion deficit, Davids said. VANCE RIPS WALZ ON ECONOMY, SAYS HE’S FORCED TO ‘PRETEND’ TRUMP DIDN’T LOWER INFLATION Other measures under Walz included efforts to increase taxes on corporations and the wealthy, such as a new “surtax” on long-term investment income. The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy nonprofit in the nation’s capital, called Walz an “outlier” when it comes to his tax policy, compared to those of Harris’ other potential running mates, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.  “Governors bring executive experience. They also bring policy records that are more concrete than those of legislators, in the sense that a governor’s signature or veto makes (or prevents) law in a way that one vote in Congress rarely does,” the Foundation wrote in a report published several weeks ago outlining Walz’s tax policy as the governor of Minnesota. “Observers will doubtless scrutinize Walz’s record as governor to get a sense of what policies he may favor at the federal level and what that may say about the Harris-Walz ticket.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP  Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s press office and the Harris-Walz campaign for comment but did not receive an on-the-record response.