A southwestern Illinois candidate who died in November is leading in the race for a Democratic Party committeeman post in the city of Belleville. Janet Schmidt died Nov. 30, but state election law did not allow St. Clair County officials to remove her name from the ballot. At the time of her death, Schmidt was an alderwoman and the Democratic Party committeeman for Precinct 7. She filed to be on the ballot seven days before her death. As of late Tuesday, she had 66 votes. The ``write-in'' spot had 58 votes. And Ward 2 Alderman Mike Buettner had 42. Not all results have yet been reported. Buettner has said he expected party officials to appoint someone if Schmidt were to receive the most votes. Dave Pusa ran as a write-in candidate.