On June 4, the Alabama legislature passed SB 148. It moves the petition deadline for independent presidential candidates from September 6, to 82 days before the general election. In 2016, that would be August 18.

The bill also moves the deadline for presidential primary candidates to file their petitions from 90 days before the presidential primary, to 116 days before the presidential primary. Presidential primary candidates need 500 signatures (or, if they wish to get 50 signatures from each U.S. House district, then they only need 350). The 2016 presidential primary will be on March 1, so presidential primary petitions will now due in December 2015, assuming the Governor signs the bill.

Some Mexican states held gubernatorial elections on Sunday, June 7. This is the first year in which independent candidates have been permitted to run for partisan office in Mexico. The voters of Nuevo Leon state gave an easy victory to Jaime Rodriguez, who will be Mexico’s first independent state governor.

Political scientist Corey Robin has this article at Politico. It says that in the U.S., employers sometimes coerce their employees into engaging in political action that supports politicians that the employer backs.

The article does not mention all-postal balloting. One fear that has been expressed by other writers is that if every voter votes by mail, there is less protection against coercion in voting. If the ballot is received in the mail, then the individual who is exerting coercion or other undue influence (such as bribery) has a chance to watch the voter mark the ballot before it is mailed back.