‘A lot happened in this year’s presidential election over the summer in both the race for the presidential title and all the rest of the American and international politics.

To begin, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are now, after their party’s respective conventions, officially the Republican and Democratic nominees for the presidency with the most recent national average polls for the election showing Clinton ahead with 43% and Trump in a close second with 41%. The New York Times has recently said that according to what has happened in the polls in the recent weeks, they predict that Clinton has an 82% chance of winning.

Bernie Sanders had a good run in this election but over the summer announced the end of his run and bid farewell to the remaining candidates. It’s becoming quiet the tight race as the end draws near and the voting options narrow, although this year, for the first time since Ross Perot ran in 1992, many Americans are seriously discussing third party candidates, mainly being Jill Stein for the Green Party and Gary Johnson for the Libertarian Party. As many know third party candidates are frequently ignored in the presidential elections but this year voters are looking past the Democrats and Republicans and are swinging their votes towards third party. Most of these votes are mainly coming from the Bernie Sanders supporters and the Never-Trump Republicans. The Democratic Party is split in their voting decisions, with some advocating a Clinton vote otherwise Trump has a high chance of winning. Others are saying that this is a chance to bring the third party candidates closer to winning than ever before, which in the world of politics would be an insanely big deal.

It looks like it’s going to be a close race so if you want to contribute to the decision and you are 18 or older, then make sure to go out and vote. At any rate, and at any age, educate yourself on the issues and the candidates because this election affects us all.