Bu BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus
Somerset — A special election will be held in the 24th House District to fill a vacancy created by the impending resignation of Jimmy Higdon, a Republican from Lebanon who has represented the district for the past seven years.
Higdon won a special election Tuesday to fill a vacancy in the 14th Senate District created by Gov. Steve Beshear’s appointment of Dan Kelly to a circuit judgeship.
Five precincts in northern Pulaski County -- Eubank, Ansel, Fall Branch, Buncombe and Mt. Zion –– are part of the 24th House District that includes Marion and Casey counties.
Higdon said tentative plans are for the State Board of Elections to validate his election Monday followed by an unofficial ceremony with family and friends Tuesday before taking the oath of office as state senator from the 14th District on Wednesday.
When Higdon takes the oath of office as a senator a vacancy will be created in the 24 House District for the final year of his current term.
Les Fugate, deputy assistant secretary of state, said if the Legislature is in session, House Speaker Greg Stumbo will call a special election in the 24th House District. If the Legislature is not in session, Governor Beshear will set the special election, Fugate said.
After separate party caucuses in each of the three counties in the 24th House District, Republicans and Democrats in the five northern Pulaski County precincts will caucus with members of their respective parties in Marion and Casey counties to select a candidate for the special election.
Here is how it works, using the Pulaski County segment of the 24th House District as an example. Unofficially, there are about 2,000 Republicans and 800 Democrats in the five Pulaski County precincts that are part of the 24th House District.
If, for example, 10 delegates show up at the Republican caucus in Pulaski County, each delegate will have 200 votes, determined by dividing the number of delegates into the number of registered voters in that section of the district.
The same thing will happen in Marion and Casey counties; the number of delegates at each county’s caucus will be divided into the number of registered members of the party they represent.
Then, at the GOP’s main caucus in the 24th House District, each delegate, armed with the number of votes assigned, will vote to select the party’s nominee for the special election.
The Democratic Party will do the same thing. For example, if 10 delegates show up at the party’s caucus in Pulaski County, each delegate would be assigned 80 votes based on the some 800 registered Democrats in that segment of the district. After caucuses in Marion and Casey counties, the Democratic party’s main caucus would select a candidate for the special election.
Terry Mills, a Democrat from Lebanon, has filed for the 24th House District seat. Mills has filed in the regular primary, general election process but would be eligible for consideration at the Democratic caucus as a candidate in the special election.
The term of the winner of the special election would end at the first Monday in January 2011. To be a candidate for a full term the winner of the special election would have to file as a candidate during the 2010 election cycle.
The special election must be held within 35 days of Higdon’s resignation and likely would be in early February.
