Now that Labor Day is over, here are 9 things to know about the upcoming election

1. 56 Days To Go – There are only eight weeks left in the election. However, some states have already started sending out mail ballots and absentee ballots. Florida will start sending out vote-by-mail ballots on Thursday, September, 24. It is possible that voters in Florida will receive, fill out, and return their vote-by-mail ballots before the first presidential debate. Early voting will start in Florida on Saturday, October 24 and run until Saturday, October 31 (dates and hours may vary county to county).

2. Deadlines – The deadline to register to vote for the November General Election is October 5. The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot be mailed to you is October 24. Florida does not require any reason be provided for a person to request a vote-by-mail ballot.

Engaging voters or causing confusion, mailers sent out ahead of 2020 election

3. State of the Race in Florida – In Florida Joe Biden leads Donald Trump by 1.8% according to the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls. On this date in 2016 Hillary Clinton led Donald Trump in Florida by 0.3% in the RCP average. It is important to remember that in 2016 the election was on November 8 (5-days later than this year). In 2016 with 56-days remaining until Election Day, Donald Trump led Hillary Clinton in Florida by 0.1%

4. Better Polls – Because of Florida’s status as a battleground state and its 29-electoral votes, few states are polled as frequently as Florida. Usually polls will switch from using “registered voters” to “likely voters” after Labor Day. The switch to “likely voters” means the polls should become more representative of what the electorate will look like.

5. National Race – National polls mean very little in the race to 270-electoral votes, but let’s talk about these polls anyway. Right now Joe Biden leads Donald Trump according to the FiveThirtyEight average of polls by +7.5%. At this point (56-days out) in 2016 Hillary Clinton led Donald Trump by 2.0%.

2020 Election: The marathon is now a sprint

6. Open Seats – Central Florida will send two new representatives to Congress in 2021. Republican Ted Yoho did not seek reelection in Florida’s 3rd congressional district. In November, Republican Kat Cammack will face off against Democrat Adam Christensen in the race to replace Yoho in the heavily-Republican district. In Florida’s 15th congressional district Rep. Ross Spano lost his primary election to Scott Franklin. As a result Franklin will be the Republican nominee and face Democrat Alan Cohn in the general election. The district stretches from Lake County to Polk and into Hillsborough. Republicans are expected to hold this seat as well.

New political ads to be stopped on Facebook before election (NCD)

7. Another Open Seat – Central Florida will also fill an open seat in the Florida Senate. Due to term limits, Republican David Simmons will not be running for reelection in Florida State Senate District 9. The district covers Seminole and a southern part of Volusia County. The race features Patricia Sigman (D) vs. Jason Brodeur (R). Right now Republicans have a 23-17 advantage in the Florida Senate. Democrats have targeted several seats to try and retake the upper chamber; SD-9 is one of them.

8. Debates – There will be four debates in the coming weeks: three between President Donald Trump and former-VP Joe Biden (September 29th Cleveland, OH - October 15th Miami, FL - October 22nd Nashville, TN) and one between VP Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris (October 7th Salt Lake City, UT).

U.S. unemployment falls sharply, Florida lagging in key industries

9. History – The last president to lose reelection was George HW Bush in 1992. Since then every president has served 8-years in office. In fact since 1900 only four presidents have lost reelection bids: William Howard Taft in 1912, Herbert Hoover in 1932, Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George HW Bush in 1988. This of course excludes men who became president following a vacancy in the office as is the case with LBJ who won in 1964 but did not run in 1968 and Gerald Ford who became president after the resignation of Richard Nixon and lost in 1976.

2020 Election: The marathon is now a sprint On the first day of September, there were just 62 days until the presidential election, but voting in many states will begin in the next three weeks. (WFTV)