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SAN DIEGO — The race to see who will be voted in to take over Nathan Fletcher’s District 4 seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors is officially underway as an expected date has been set for the special election.

Three people have announced their candidacy: veterans advocate nonprofit CEO Janessa Goldbeck, San Diego City Councilmember Monica Montgomery-Steppe and now Amy Reichert, who ran against Fletcher in last year’s election, announced Tuesday she is seeking the position again.

“It’s the people and listening to the people,” Amy Reichert said. “And for the past couple of years, that simply just has not been happening in District 4 and I want to be that leader that serves people and listens to people.“

“This is where I grew up, and it really matters to me what happens here. When I look at the county, I see it as a place that can really make an impact on some of the most vulnerable members of our society,” Goldbeck said.

On Tuesday, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to begin the process to hold a special election to fill Fletcher’s seat. FOX 5 asked Reichert and Goldbeck their thoughts on the special election process now in place.

“I’m excited, this is a democracy, our fundamental right is to vote, and express ourselves. This is going to be a very short race, it’s a very short amount of time to meet everyone in the district,” Goldbeck said. “When I launched this campaign back in February before all of this transpired, the plan was to have a couple of years to knock on everyone’s door and we’re going to do our best to do that.”

“I was so happy to see a unanimous vote that all of the Board of supervisors came together, they agreed it is the residents of District 4 that should elect the next supervisor to represent them,” Reichert said.

The 700,000 San Diegans that live in District 4, the most ethnically-diverse district in the county, are slated to vote in the special election on Aug. 15, a short turnaround for the candidates in the race.

“I have my team ready to go and we’re excited. I had over 250 volunteers when I ran and so they told me they are all in,” Reichert said. “My team is ready to go day one.”

And for Goldbeck, who filed her candidacy in February before allegations about Fletcher surfaced, it sped up her timeline from about two and a half years to three and a half months.

“I’m not afraid of this challenge, this is certainly a more sped up race but the work that needs to be done at the county, the progress that needs to continue there to fight against the homelessness, to make sure San Diegans struggling with the skyrocketing cost of living here, to have the resources they need – that work is too important to stall out and I’m excited to get in the mix and be a part of the solution,” Goldbeck said.

Montgomery Steppe couldn’t be reached for an interview Wednesday. Her campaign announcement reads, “I will continue to fight for my community to have a voice wherever it is needed. And right now, that need is at the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. I ask that you stand with me to move the county forward.”

The Board of Supervisors plan to meet again in three weeks to vote on the resolution that would officially declare Aug. 15 as the special election.