In the three-way race for a North County seat on the Santa Barbara County Superior Court, John MacKinnon won by a comfortable margin with 39.6 percent of the vote Tuesday.

Since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, second-place finisher Jed Beebe will face off against MacKinnon in a runoff election in November.

Beebe finished with 21.6 percent of the vote, and Kevin Ready took 19 percent.

Lynn Cutler, who announced he was pulling out of the race in March but was too late to remove his name from the ballot, kept pace with Beebe and Ready, getting 19.2 percent of the vote even though he didn?t campaign.

MacKinnon said he and his supporters were Babsolutely thrilled with the results.C

BI am completely humbled and honored for the support from all the voters and all the citizens of Santa Barbara County,C he said.

MacKinnon said that he thought his vote total was a reflection of his broad support from law enforcement, elected officials and judges.

After all the precincts had reported at midnight, Beebe said the results were exciting.

BThat?s great,C he said.

BGot to start fresh and start early,C Beebe said of his campaign leading up to the November runoff. BObviously, there?s a lot of catch-up work to do.C

Ready said shortly before 10:30 p.m., when he had 19.9 percent of the vote with 62.7 percent of precincts reporting, that the number of votes Cutler was getting even though he had dropped out of the race indicated that too many voters are ill informed.

Ready noted that he was doing well in the polling place vote, and was a little surprised that he didn?t do better in the vote by mail.

Attorneys MacKinnon, Ready and Beebe are vying for the judgeship left vacant in the North County by the state Commission on Judicial Performance?s removal of Judge Diana Hall in December 2006 for misconduct. Hall heard civil cases in Santa Maria.

Although the empty judge seat is in the North County, all of Santa Barbara County voted in the race for a six-year term.

Ready has been a senior attorney for the county counsel?s office for 18 years and has been an attorney for 32 years.

He has served as an officer in the U.S. Army and Navy, has been a federal prosecutor, a Congressional candidate and an author.

Ready said he has represented almost a dozen counties, including Santa Barbara County, in appellate cases that established California law.

Ready also claimed that his broad range of experience exceeds both Beebe?s and MacKinnon?s.

MacKinnon, a senior attorney with the county district attorney?s office in Santa Maria, has worked for about 12 years as a prosecutor. For the past four years, he has handled the sexually violent predator commitment cases in the North County. He also has served as the district attorney?s representative in the county's treatment courts.

He said he helped start the county's Workers Compensation Insurance Fraud Unit three years ago, and began the county Rural Crime Taskforce with a grant from the state.

MacKinnon said that his direct involvement with the courtroom gives him the advantage over Ready and Beebe.

Beebe has spent the last 18 years as a research attorney for the Superior Court's judges, and has been an attorney for 33 years.

He said he has served as a special master and as a temporary judge in civil and criminal trials, on law-and-motion matters, in juvenile court hearings and on traffic and small claims calendars.

Beebe also touted the value of his working closely with local judges, helping them solve problems.

He claimed that his knowledge of the judgeship puts him ahead of MacKinnon and Ready.

Samantha Yale can be reached at 739-2159 or syale@santamaria times.com.