A special election took place in Santa Clara County last week and something unusual happened—it went smoothly. Well, maybe not that smooth for one candidate.

With 86 percent of votes tallied, Tim Orozco holds a clear lead in the special election for San Jose's District 4 City Council seat.

Voters have their pick of eight candidates in today's special election to fill San Jose's District 4 City Council seat.

All candidates vying for San Jose’s District 4 council seat will have a chance to speak at a forum next Monday. Organizers originally planned to limit the panel to the top five fundraisers but opened it up to all active candidates after some pushback.

Vietnamese media exec Manh Nguyen held on to his fundraising lead in San Jose’s special election for the District 4 council seat. But Bob Dhillon, a retired realtor, has also tallied impressive numbers with just a week until absentee ballots can be cast.

The special election to succeed former San Jose Councilman Kansen Chu—and by extension his temporarily appointed fill-in Margie Matthews—takes greater shape next week, when candidates must file their first campaign disclosure forms for 2015. But what have they been doing in the meantime?

Ten names will grace the ballot for San Jose’s special election in April, but only nine plan to actively campaign for the District 4 City Council seat.