Workers erupt over DC plan to bring robotaxis to city streets: ‘This is bulls—’
October 10, 2026 5:30am EDT / Fox News
Demonstrators gathered outside the D.C. council building to oppose legislation that could bring driverless cars by 2028
By Hannah Brennan Fox News
SEE IT: Protestors plea for resistance to robotaxi introduction over job loss concerns
Rideshare drivers, unions and religious leaders protested in Washington D.C. as council members met to discuss legislation to bring robotaxis to the city as fear creeps in over economic impact. (Credit: Nicholas Ballasy for Fox News Digital)
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A new proposal that could bring driverless rideshare vehicles to the streets of the nation’s capital is causing an uproar among union workers, drivers and religious leaders who fear the technology could eliminate jobs.
Protesters gathered outside the John Wilson Building as D.C. council members met to discuss legislation that would allow Waymo and other autonomous vehicle operators to offer commercial rides in Washington, D.C. The protesters urged the council to reject the legislation, arguing that an influx of robotaxis would displace rideshare drivers.
“We came out here today strongly because we feel that these robotaxis will put people out of work,” one protester told Fox News Digital. “And people need jobs.”
TERRIFIED PASSENGERS FILM WAYMO AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE DRIVING INTO LIVE FIREWORKS IN SAN FRANCISCO
In an aerial view, Waymo robotaxis sit parked at a Waymo facility on Dec. 8, 2025 in San Francisco, California.(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“I’m against robotaxis because it takes away from the community, it takes away from their jobs, it takes away food from their table,” Frederick from Virginia said.
He continued, “People need jobs to be able to support their family.”
“It’s bulls – – -,” Sabrina from Washington, D.C., said. “Let’s not bring robots taking my neighbor’s jobs. My folks that drive for a living, let’s just not take their jobs.”
Another person at the protest acknowledged that autonomous vehicles could eliminate some driving jobs but argued the city should “take the offensive” by shortening the workweek without cutting pay and expanding employment elsewhere.
“We should take the offensive on job issues,” Michael from Washington, D.C., said. “We should shorten the workweek, without a loss in pay. So we’ll create more jobs in public transportation, in hospitals, in service industries. So we actually maybe will lose some jobs to taxi drivers, but we’ll create better paying jobs.”
The Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Authorization Amendment Act of 2026 — introduced by Councilmember Charles Allen in May — would create a program for commercial autonomous vehicles in D.C. that would be run by the District Department of Transportation.
TESLA ROBOTAXI MIAMI LAUNCH COMES WITH LIMITS
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Waymo says its latest safety data, covering more than 270 million miles of autonomous driving, shows its vehicles were involved in 82% fewer injury-causing crashes and 95% fewer crashes involving serious injuries or worse compared with human-driver benchmarks in the same operating areas.
Supporters of robotaxis have also pointed to the potential for lower fares without a human driver, although current comparisons have found Waymo’s prices can vary widely and are not consistently cheaper than traditional rideshare services like Uber and Lyft.
Protesters claimed that while prices may be lower as the driverless vehicles roll out, the rates will eventually spike.
“That’s just something just to…get our antennas up and have us saying, ‘Yeah, ooo, we’re gonna get cheaper rides,’” Sabrina said. “It might be cheap for the trial periods, and then all of a sudden we’ll be paying $50. So no, I don’t believe that. That’s just some crap just to get people engaged with the Waymo.”
“They seem the same price to me,” Helen from Maryland said. “They’re in other cities and it seems like not much of a difference in the pricing.”
ZOOX ROBOTAXI REDESIGN BRINGS BIG RIDER UPGRADES
Waymo’s new Ojai robotaxi is designed around passengers, with more legroom, bigger screens and accessibility features.(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The proposed regulatory framework, which could bring robotaxis to the city by 2028, would initially limit operators to 200 vehicles. Companies seeking commercial permits would have to demonstrate at least 180 days and 250,000 miles of autonomous vehicle testing in the District and submit plans aimed at reducing disparities in service availability and wait times across the city’s eight wards.
There was a public hearing on the bill in July, but no vote has been scheduled. The bill would have to be approved by the entire council before self-driving cars start to hit the city’s streets.
“A worker should be at the table,” Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO President Samuel Epps told Fox News Digital at the protest. “We shouldn’t rush this.”
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“I don’t think it’s good for the city,” Eddie said. “If my children gonna get in a car, I would prefer for a human to be driving.”
Hannah is a Production Assistant for the Politics team at Fox News Digital.
At Whitey Taylor’s Trump Town, the heavy, chrome-dipped “Trump balls” were a big draw in December 2023 as the former president campaigned to take back the White House. On a return visit in September, well into Trump’s second term, the balls came in a new XL size. But fewer people were coming in to see them.
Sales are down in the whole store, an Aladdin’s Cave of Trump memorabilia from shot glasses and bobbleheads to ice-makers and balls to dangle from a truck hitch.
“There’s less stuff coming from China,” Taylor said. The overseas suppliers just weren’t making as much new and varied merchandise based on the latest Trumpisms. “It’s not selling like it was,” he explained, as he scanned a table of buttons, stickers and keychains that mostly commemorated Dolly Parton, America’s 250th anniversary, and Charlie Kirk. (Taylor said he’d diversified a bit.) At the peak, Taylor said, “We had a lot of $12,000 days, maybe a $15,000 day occasionally.” Now? “Well, 1,500, 2,000 bucks. We sometimes hit $3000.”
Taylor attributes some of the dropoff to the success of his store, located at a busy highway intersection in the tiny town of Boones Mill in southern Virginia. “Most everybody that comes, they’ve already got 10 Trump hats, five flags, and whatever else,” he said.
There is still a flow of fans coming in to buy Trump stuff. But amid the president’s record-low approval ratings, even his customers are wrestling with some dissatisfaction in the policies and their personal attachment to the president.
“I’m disappointed in the fuel prices,” Stevie Lovell, a friend of Taylor, said when he stopped by the store. “I’m not a supporter of the war in Iran,” he said, comparing it to the Iraq war and how “we found out we shouldn’t have been there, either.”
Lovell went on to say, “This thing that’s going on in Gaza is horrible. I think it’s more horrible than what’s going on in Iran, personally.” On top of that, he’d heard a news report that Trump had made more money in office than any other previous president. “It bothered me a little bit,” Lovell said.
Despite all that, Lovell said, “I’m still a Trump fan. I don’t agree with him all the way, but I don’t agree with my pastor all the way.”
What is so delicious about a Trump store is it’s full of physical objects that represent abstract political ideas. Many items had used Trump’s mug shot or the photo of him pumping his fist after an assassination attempt. It had taken longer to move canned cow farts that referenced a comment from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about global warming, but Taylor did eventually sell them. Recently, Taylor said, “college girls” were most likely to buy flags that showed Trump in front of the White House under the pink words, “DADDY’S HOME.” You can track which ones resonate most with what kind of people by looking at how much they sell and to whom. Less seems to be resonating now.
When CNN visited in December 2023, several customers said they wanted Trump to bring some relief from the financial pressure they felt from inflation. In interviews in 2026, people said relief hasn’t come.
Mugshots, onesies and Trump’s balls: What sells in the Trump Town USA megastore
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/01/12/trump-store-merchandise-reeve-pkg.cnn
5:00 • Source: CNN
Two-thirds of Americans say Trump has made the economy worse, and majorities say the Iran war and tariffs have hurt them financially, according to a September CNN poll.
That same frustration with Trump’s major policies was voiced by Trump store shoppers, except some were reluctant to blame Trump himself.
Jamie Varela said she wanted to buy healthy food for her two teenagers but sometimes felt like “you’ve got to choose fruit or gas.” Her monthly grocery bill was between $800 and $1,000, she said. Asked if she thought Trump had some responsibility for those high prices, Varela said, “Yes, because of the war.”
Still, she thought the war in Iran was necessary. America is a big target, Varela said. “I’m sure we’ll see war here on American soil because, like I said, everyone’s gunning for us. So, it’s not really Trump’s fault. He’s just making it known to people that we’re not going to back down.”
Varela said she hadn’t decided who she’d vote for in the midterm elections.
Maria Martin, who was working at the cash register, hadn’t decided who to vote for either. Customer Barbara Keith said she always votes but didn’t want to reveal who she was picking this time. A resident of South Carolina, Keith said she wasn’t sure Darline Graham, who was appointed to replace her late brother Lindsey Graham as senator, had enough political experience.
“What I don’t understand is how can we make agreements with like Venezuela, and yet the gas prices are still up. What’s going on there?” Keith said. Asked what she thought was going on, Keith said,” I don’t think it’s Trump’s fault. “Everybody blames Trump for everything, and yet it’s not just one man making all the rules and laws and everything. It’s a whole bunch of people.”
Keith said she thought grocery prices would never come down, because businesses saw customers would pay higher prices. Asked about Trump’s campaign promise to lower those prices, Keith said “every politician” breaks their promises.
She said she was putting no faith in Trump’s pledge to give every American $5,000 if Republicans keep control of Congress in the midterms, simply stating, “all politicians lie.”
Trump’s appeal was once that he was not a politician, but an outsider. But Keith said, “They all become salesmen, and they’ll lie to get you to their votes. It doesn’t matter which side. You got to pick the worst of both evils.”
She did make her choice as a customer, and exited the store with a new Trump-face-shaped “end the wokeness” ice cube maker.
CNN’s Samantha Guff and Deb Brunswick contributed to this story.
America’s truckers issue dire warning as soaring diesel costs threaten ‘domino effect’
Diesel now averages $6.32 per gallon nationally, up more than 70% from last year, squeezing owner operators’ profits
October 10, 2026 7:00am EDT / Fox News
By Ashley J. DiMella Fox News
American truckers are warning that sky-high diesel prices are eating into their profits and putting pressure on trucking companies to cut routes, raising concerns that some drivers could be forced off the road and the pain could eventually reach Americans at the grocery store.
“Fuel prices is going up, the rates are not going up,” Miami-based trucker Suave Dorsett told Fox News Digital. “So it’s hurting our pockets real bad.”
The warnings come as the Iran war sends diesel prices soaring, squeezing American truckers even as President Donald Trump predicts oil prices will fall “like a stone” amid expectations that the conflict could soon end. Drivers told Fox News Digital the damage is already mounting, with routes being cut and smaller operators facing mounting financial pressure.
Dorsett is among several truckers who told Fox News Digital that soaring fuel costs are cutting into their earnings and putting pressure on an industry responsible for moving goods across the country, with one driver reporting fewer routes and others warning that smaller operators could eventually be forced to park their rigs.
THE OVERLOOKED WAY THE IRAN WAR IS MAKING GROCERIES, AMAZON PACKAGES AND NEW HOMES MORE EXPENSIVE
Fox News Digital speaks to truckers about how diesel prices are impacting them.(Fox News Digital)
The national average for diesel stood at roughly $6.32 per gallon Monday, according to AAA — up from about $3.69 at the same time last year, a jump of more than 70%. The surge has also eclipsed the previous record of $5.816 per gallon, set in June 2022 under former President Joe Biden as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent global energy prices soaring.
For Dorsett, who has been driving for nine years, the price at the pump was even steeper. He told Fox News Digital he was seeing diesel at $7.40 per gallon while traveling through Ohio.
Dorsett said the fuel spike comes as truckers are already shouldering a long list of expenses, including diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), which helps reduce harmful emissions, parking, showers, weighing and reweighing loads, repairs and towing.
And if diesel prices remain elevated, Dorsett predicted smaller operators will be the first to buckle.
BIDEN-ERA ENVIRO RULE ACCUSED OF STRANGLING TRUCKERS, SQUEEZING AMERICANS LANDS ON TRUMP CHOPPING BLOCK
President Trump in garbage truck and trucks sitting on parking lot. Trump has directed the Transportation Department to enforce language proficiency standards.(Getty Images)
“Some of the smaller companies, like the smaller owner ops, would slowly fall off and it’s going to create a chain effect,” Dorsett said, predicting a “domino effect” that could eventually put pressure on larger carriers.
Tyler Rinaldi, a Louisiana trucker with about a decade of experience who transports hazardous materials and other freight for an LTL company, said he has already seen weekend routes scaled back at his company.
“I’ve seen a lot of routes get cut,” Rinaldi told Fox News Digital. “They’re not really running like they want to on the weekends right now.”
“I definitely see a lot change because of it at my company, slowly, but it’s starting to be more noticeable,” he added.
TRUMP TAPS VETERANS TO FIX ILLEGAL ALIEN TRUCKING PROBLEM PLAGUING US ROADWAYS
While gasoline prices have largely leveled off, diesel costs have surged to record highs, threatening to ripple through the broader economy.(Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)
Rinaldi, who is married with two children, said fewer routes could eventually mean less money coming home.
“When they start cutting routes and trying to limit the expenses on what routes they send out,” Rinaldi said, “that takes away from the people that work in the company’s pockets.”
Avante Jackson, an 11-year trucking veteran from Charlotte, North Carolina, who transports steel and other construction materials, said rising diesel prices are forcing truckers to take a harder look at whether the money they bring in is enough to keep their businesses running.
“If I’m putting all of my profit in the tank,” Jackson said, “at the end of the day, what do I have left to keep the doors open?”
CUT THE BULL: THE REAL REASON BEEF COSTS SO MUCH — AND WHAT TRUMP IS TRYING TO DO
A tractor trailer refuels with diesel fuel at a Kwik Star gas station in Mitchellville, Iowa, US, on Thursday, April 30, 2026.(Bryon Houlgrave/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Jackson cautioned against “fear-mongering” about potential shortages, but said a widespread loss of drivers could ultimately reach consumers.
“It really could hit the community,” he said.
The latest diesel spike echoes a similar crunch in 2022 under former President Joe Biden, when the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent fuel prices flying. Diesel reached a then-record national average of $5.82 per gallon that June, squeezing truckers as operating expenses climbed.
According to the American Transportation Research Institute, trucking fuel costs surged 53.7% in 2022, helping drive a 21.3% jump in overall operating costs to a then-record $2.25 per mile. The latest spike threatens to revive those pressures, particularly for smaller operators with less room to absorb rising fuel bills.
As the Trump administration pushes international partners to release emergency fuel reserves in an effort to bring prices down, the truckers had their own message for the president: don’t forget about the drivers absorbing the costs on the road.
“My message to President Trump would just be to think about who’s keeping America moving,” Jackson told Fox News Digital. “Think about the little guys out here each and every day.”
TRUMP JUST BROKERED A DEAL WITH THE COUNTRY SITTING ATOP THE WORLD’S LARGEST OIL RESERVES
“We truly are the backbone of America, we keep America moving,” he added. “We just want you just to think about us and put yourself in our shoes…Let’s try to get the fuel prices down and let’s try to just make more of a change,” he said. “We know we can do better.”
Trump defended higher fuel prices Thursday as a temporary sacrifice in the fight to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, saying on Truth Social that rising gasoline costs were “a small price to pay for Iran not having a Nuclear Weapon.”
Trump said last week that European countries had agreed to release diesel from their stockpiles after he pressed them to put more supply on the market. The G7 subsequently agreed to release 100 million barrels of oil and fuel products from previously pledged emergency reserves over four months, including a substantial diesel release during the first 20 days, in an effort to ease pressure on global fuel markets.
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Trump also said his administration would not pursue a diesel export ban and expressed confidence that oil prices would eventually return to levels seen before the latest spike, though energy markets remain under pressure from global supply disruptions.
Trump predicted during a Wednesday night rally in San Antonio, Texas, that oil prices would “come down like a rock” once the war with Iran ends, insisting the conflict would be over “very soon.”
“This week, President Trump signed an executive order that will quickly cut diesel costs and put money directly back into the pockets of American truckers, saving them over $100 every time they refill at the gas pump. Last week, he negotiated a deal with our European counterparts to release 100 million barrels—mainly diesel—from their stockpiles to add supply to the market and lower costs,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital.
“The President wants to see prices at the pump fall and continues to take historic action to ease temporary disruptions as oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz approaches pre-conflict levels,” Rogers added.
Ashley J. DiMella reports on politics for Fox News Digital.
Army caught off guard by Hegseth’s order to make firing squad execution public
2026-10-10T10:30:44.646Z / CNN
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s announcement that the execution of the convicted Fort Hood mass shooter would be shown in public caught people across the Pentagon and the Army off guard, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Hegseth made the announcement in an interview with far-right podcaster Jack Posobiec aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on Wednesday, which he’d visited to give a speech to the crew welcoming them home from their deployment to the Middle East.
“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said during the interview.
That comment was the first time many in the Army and Pentagon heard about the idea of a firing squad’s execution of Nidal Hasan in Texas being made public, and there were immediately questions about what “public” would mean. There are Army regulations about who can watch a military execution, including family of the prisoner and of the victims, media representatives and a chaplain.
But it was decided by Hegseth, acting Army Secretary Adam Telle, and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell and his staff that “public” would mean it would be livestreamed, one source familiar said. The Pentagon then confirmed as much to the media, saying in a statement, “The Secretary is correct. It will be livestreamed. Details will follow.”
The Army referred questions to the Pentagon, and a Pentagon spokesperson said they had nothing to add beyond Thursday’s confirmation that it would be live-streamed.
The idea has shocked many service members and veterans and provoked a bipartisan backlash. Vice President JD Vance cast doubt on Friday that the livestream could ultimately go forward, saying he didn’t know “if that’s actually going to happen,” but said if it was, “I’m not going to be watching it.”
“It takes away everything America stands for when we do public executions,” one Army officer with multiple deployments to the Middle East told CNN. “The generational harm caused by allowing troops in uniform to stand in front of a man in a wheelchair and watch him get shot to death is irreparable.”
President Donald Trump welcomed the idea of a firing squad execution on Friday.
“We’re giving a man the death penalty who killed 14 soldiers a couple of years ago. Death penalty through firing squad — and he deserves it,” the president said to applause during a White House event honoring Christopher Columbus.
Trump told CNN-affiliate WSTM on Friday he was not involved in the decision to livestream the execution, adding, “but I understand the decision.”
Asked about the livestream by reporters at the White House earlier Friday, the president said his administration would make a determination about it, while reiterating that Hasan will be killed and “through firing squad.” He didn’t answer when a reporter asked if he’d watch the livestream.
FCC chair Brendan Carr told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” it was his understanding that the execution would not be shown on broadcast TV – but that he would defer to Hegseth and “his decisions on how to move forward.”
Many of the details around the livestream have yet to be finalized, and multiple sources told CNN that officials have been working to find answers since it was announced. A second source familiar told CNN that great care is being taken to determine which soldiers would fire on Hasan, taking into consideration the potential psychological impacts of doing so. A specific unit has been selected to carry out the execution, the source said.
Showing the execution on a livestream presents more challenges, the source said, including any effort to obscure from the public the identities of the soldiers involved. It’s also unclear where and if the execution will be streamed beyond the Pentagon’s own website. Broadcasters and social media platforms have strict restrictions on violent and disturbing content.
The first source familiar said there are still questions about whether soldiers can decline to participate, given that the military is moving forward with this as a legal order.
The second source familiar echoed the same, saying while many soldiers may have “taken a life in combat,” this is a very different situation.
“This is a situation where the guy has done a very bad thing and hurt a lot of people, years removed,” the second source said. “He’s going to be immobile and put up like a target.”
Elon Musk’s PAC is spreading inaccurate voting information, election officials say
2026-10-10T10:30:44.960Z / CNN
The texts from Elon Musk’s super PAC arrived last week, all with the same message to a group of Colorado voters: “Your ballot request is in,” they read. “Confirm now where and when to return it.”
But every active registered voter in Colorado automatically receives a mail ballot, and the message from Musk’s America PAC set off a flurry of calls and emails from confused residents to county offices.
“People were like, ‘Wait a second. I didn’t submit that request. Is something fishy going on? Did someone submit something on my behalf?’” said Carly Koppes, a Republican who is the election chief in Weld County, north of Denver.
Election officials in Colorado and Washington state have issued public warnings about inaccurate information from the group tied to Musk, the billionaire who is spending heavily to sway the midterm elections in Republicans’ favor.
Third-party groups long have engaged in voter-registration drives and other outreach to voters ahead of elections, sometimes relying on out-of-date commercially available information. But the PAC’s tactics have drawn particular scrutiny, given its heavy spending and unorthodox activity in previous elections — including controversial $1 million giveaways to encourage turnout.
A spokesman for America PAC did not respond to questions about the Colorado messages. In a post on X, the super PAC argued that Washington state officials were trying to “suppress” voter registration in criticizing the PAC’s activity.
Musk, the world’s richest man, was the largest publicly disclosed donor of the 2024 federal election, spending nearly $300 million to elect President Donald Trump and Republicans in that cycle. And he’s once again plowing big money into politics, this time with the goal of helping the GOP retain control of Congress during the last two years of Trump’s presidency.
As of Friday morning, America PAC had reported spending nearly $40 million on independent expenditures to influence Senate and House contests, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
The lion’s share of the spending, more than $31 million, has gone to shape Senate races, led by Texas, home to many of Musk’s businesses and the site of a fierce contest between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico.
So far in this cycle, Musk has disclosed donating about $50 million to America PAC and another $40 million to other Republican-aligned super PACs, along with smaller, direct donations to congressional candidates.
Not all of the money has benefited federal candidates. The total includes $5 million that Musk donated in May to a super PAC aiding Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s bid for Ohio governor. The two men helped create the federal Department of Government Efficiency that Musk briefly led at the start of Trump’s second term.
More details on Musk’s personal investments will be disclosed later this month when America PAC files a report covering the July-to-September quarter with federal regulators.
In the midterms, Musk’s team is focused on ground-level mobilization, with millions of dollars going to digital ads, phone messaging and printing expenses, federal records show.
America PAC’s digital advertising on platforms such as Facebook often starts with a provocative message attacking Democrats and aimed at encouraging Republicans to get to the polls. One focused on Texas shows a bearded man applying heavy makeup. “Don’t stay home while the crazy liberals elect radicals,” the ad says.
The ads direct users to check their voter registration status via VoteSafe.org. Once there, they are asked to supply personal information, including their cell phone numbers and email addresses, an avenue for the group to contact them through Election Day.
“By providing your telephone number and email, you consent to receive emails, calls and text messages from America PAC,” a disclosure reads. Additionally, the site warns that “the information about voting and registering to vote on this website is sourced from third parties and may not necessarily be accurate.”
Eric Wilson, a Republican digital strategist who runs the Center for Campaign Innovation, called the PAC’s activity “pretty standard get-out-the-vote tactics.”
And he said Musk’s political operation has added innovations through VoteSafe.org that state election officials could learn from, including an “America Pass” that voters can add to their Google or Apple wallets, keeping information about ballot deadlines and early voting windows close at hand.
“One of the jobs of campaigns in this country is to turn voters out,” Wilson said. “State election officials ought to be embarrassed that PACs and political campaigners have had to create a better process for informing and reminding voters about casting their ballots.”
Still, in Washington state, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, has made a point of urging voters to steer clear of VoteSafe.org.
“Instead of relying on a website that itself warns its voting information may not be accurate, get accurate and timely information directly from your state and local election offices,” said a statement from Hobbs’ office. “That way you know that you’re giving your address, contact information, and personal data to actual election officials, not a third party that can’t actually register you to vote.”
In Colorado, Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold also has called on voters to rely on her office and county clerks “for accurate, trusted information” about the election after people who live north of Denver received text messages from America PAC.
She called the super PAC’s messaging “misleading.”
The texts in question targeted voters in both Weld and Adams counties, local officials said. Freshman GOP Rep. Gabe Evans faces Democrat and former state lawmaker Manny Rutinel there in a race that independent political handicappers rate as a tossup.
America PAC has reported spending more than $228,000 on the race to benefit Evans.
Adams County’s election chief Josh Zygielbaum, a Democrat, said he received about a dozen calls from voters with questions about the texts. Although it’s hard for him to tell how many voters received the message, “that volume of phone calls is usually a good indicator for us that something’s a bigger issue because people generally don’t pick up the phone these days unless there’s a bigger concern,” he said.
Koppes, the top election official in neighboring Weld county, said she’s “had to have some clarifying conversations” with voters to allay their worries.
“It’s a typical, normal thing during the election that third-party groups try to get out the vote,” Koppes said she’s explained to voters. “But we don’t control them or whether they use the correct verbiage.”