The eight county chairmen of the counties comprising the 109th Illinois House district are scheduled meet on April 14 to vote on a successor to Roger Eddy, who withdrew from the recent primary and resigned his position. By law successors to lawmakers who leave office are voted on by their local party.
Counties in the 2001-map 109th District
The front runner to finish the term is Brad Halbrook, who won the race for the new 110th House seat. Crawford, Effingham, Shelby, Lawrence, and Wabash counties favor Brad Halbrook.
The vote is to be weighted based on the number of Republican votes Eddy had received in the November, 2010 election in the precincts of a county that are in the District.
The counties voting (based on the 2001 map) are:
| Ballots | County (precincts if partial) |
| 6236 | Clark |
| 7020 | Crawford |
| 4393 | Cumberland |
| ~6000 | *Edgar (12) |
| ~1000 | *Effingham (5) |
| 5314 | Lawrence |
| ~1500 | *Shelby (8) |
| ~1000 | *Wabash (5) |
According Cumberland County Chairman Jerry Sidwell, Earl Deckerd of Richland County will lead the group and Steve Donaldson will be Vice Chairman.
Two counties, Clark and Edgar, are rumored to have their own candidates. Former County Party Chairman Ted Lang of Paris is said to be Edgar’s candidate, having beaten out Brad Halbrook by one vote in a straw poll held in the county. Multiple sources said that vote came from County Chairman Keith Miller.
