Brent Schepp's name will remain on the ballot as the Republican candidate for the Kane County Board's 3rd District in Aurora, despite his death Tuesday in a car crash.
Carole Holtz, Aurora Election Commission director, said it would be "very expensive" to reprint ballots without his name at this point.
"My ballots are printed, everything is set," for the Nov. 7 general election, she said Wednesday.
But it would not be set if the Kane County Republican Organization decided to put a new candidate in Schepp's place. The GOP can slate a candidate up to 15 days before the election, which is Monday, Oct. 23.
If officials did that, the Election Commission would have to reprint its ballots. Still, Kane GOP Chairman Dennis Wiggins said Wednesday the county organization is "not planning to put anyone in there."
"We can't stop a write-in, obviously," Wiggins said. "But my recommendation is we just leave it alone."
If Schepp's name stays on the ballot, people still can vote for him. If Schepp were to win, it then would be up to the county board to replace him.
Board Chairwoman Karen McConnaughay, R-St. Charles, would make the appointment, with the advice of the county GOP organization. Then the board would have to approve the appointment. That is the standard situation when there is a county board vacancy.
Schepp, 36, died Tuesday morning when his car crashed into the concrete support of a pedestrian bridge over Eola Road, south of Diehl Road, on Aurora's far-northeast side. The accident occurred four days after a Kane County grand jury indicted Schepp with felonies of criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, and a misdemeanor count of providing alcohol to minors.
The 26-count indictment alleged that Schepp had sexual contact with two girls, now 15 and 16 years old, between June 1 and Dec. 31, 2005.
Police on Tuesday said it appeared preliminarily the crash was "a self-inflicted act," because there was no sign of braking or evasive maneuvers at the accident scene.
Let's see: the girls were 14 and 15 years old at the time Schepp molested them. And just one short year later Karen McConnaughay, R-St. Charles, may get to appoint a replacement for their molester.
Rather than run a new candidate, the Kane County GOP decided to let people vote for their dead sex predator and only afterward select an appropriate replacement, whatever that might mean.
