August 4 is the first day for Illinois residents who want to run for federal and state office in the 2010 primary to begin petitioning.

Illinois requires all candidates running in a partisan primary, for federal and state office, to submit petitions. Because the 2010 primary for all federal and state office is in February, petitions to get on a primary ballot ballot circulate from early August to early November of the year before the election. Illinois is the only state that has ever held its midterm year primary for Congress and state office as early as February. See this news story.

Many Illinois newspapers have editorialized that the state’s midterm primary date is ridiculously early, but the state’s legislators did not seriously consider moving it. Incumbents tend to feel that it is easier for them to get re-elected when the primary is very early.

On August 3, the Conservative Party in the British district of Totnes announced the results of its mail ballot open primary to select the party’s nominee for House of Commons in that district. Three candidates ran. Sarah Wollaston received 7,914; Sara Randall Johnson received 5,495; Nick Bye received 3,088.

This is the first time any British political party has used a mail ballot to all voters in the district to choose its nominee. The process cost the party 40,000 pounds. Other political parties have complained that only the Conservative Party could afford such a process. UPDATE: see this opinion piece by a Liberal Democrat activist.

The party leadership approved the nomination of each of the three candidates. Information about each of the three of them was included in the postal ballot mailing.

On August 3, the founder of the California Moderate Party, Ash Roughani, announced that the party will not attempt to qualify for the 2010 ballot, although suggesting that it might make the attempt for 2012.