Drop support for Python 3.8

[irtazaakram]

Description:

Follow and complete all of the following steps for the issue to be marked as done.

• Update the tox.ini, setup.py, setup.cfg, or pyproject.toml to remove Python 3.8 from the supported versions list.
• Ensure the GitHub Actions workflows are updated, particularly removing Python 3.8 from the CI matrix.
• Review and clean up any testing or build configurations referencing Python versions earlier than 3.11.
• Run tests in the CI to ensure everything passes after removing Python 3.8.
• Add a CHANGELOG entry: “Dropped support for Python 3.8.”
• Bump the package version and release a new version on GitHub & PyPI (if applicable).

[deborahgu]

@irtazaakram same question @MaxFrank13 asked over the parallel credentials PR: Is this ticket being created the track work that is already happening/planned at Axim, or is this ticket here to ask the repository maintainers to go through these steps? were happy to do it if that's what's being asked, but we don't want to duplicate work.

[irtazaakram]

Hi @deborahgu, Axim won't be taking this on, as we want to track the work that the maintainers will be handling themselves.

[deborahgu]

thank you so much! we have a tendency to over-enthusiastically duplicate work somebody else is doing so we've been trying to get better about avoiding that. 😀