The race to succeed former San Jose Councilman Kansen Chu—and by extension his interim replacement, appointed council member Margie Matthews—begins in earnest at noon today.

As of 9:30am, 13 people had pulled papers to be included in the race, according to the City Clerk's office, but only six had qualified for the race. The clerk's office, which will announce the field after noon, requires anyone interested in running to acquire at least 50 signatures of people living in the district to qualify, in addition paying a small fee.

Voters in San Jose's District 4, which covers the Berryessa neighborhood, will have their say April 7. If no one receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff between the top two finishers will occur June 23.

UPDATE 1pm: According to the City Clerk's office, at least seven people qualified for the District 4 special election. That list includes:

• Allen Ming Chu
• Bob Dhillon
• Lan Diep
• Rudy Nasol
• Manh Nguyen
• Khoa Nguyen
• Johnny Lee

The clerk's office is still waiting to receive confirmation from the county Registrar of Voters on four other candidates who submitted the necessary paperwork:

• Alex Torres
• Timothy R. Orozco
• Sarah E. Gonzalez
• Thelma Boac

UPDATE 4pm: At last check with the clerk's office Alex Torres, Tim Orozco and Thelma Boac had also qualified for the special election. That brings the total candidates to 10.

We will update this article with more details throughout the day.