With only two candidates in the race for Santa Barbara County clerk-recorder-assessor and registrar of voters, it seems a sure bet those two will face off in the November general election.

But as of 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, incumbent Joseph E. Holland was leading with  33,521 votes, or 82.7%, over challenger Elrawd MacLearn’s 6,961 votes, or 17.2%, with only mail-in ballots counted and no precincts reporting following the 8 p.m. closure of the polls.

Holland, a Goleta resident, was elected to the clerk-recorder-assessor and registrar of voters position in 2002 and has held the post since taking office in 2003.

He started working in the Assessor’s Office as a real estate appraiser in 1984 and has served as assessment supervisor from 1994 to 1999. He was also the capital financing project manager for the County Administrator’s Office from 1998 to 1999.

Holland then served as the Business Division manager for the County Clerk-Recorder-Asssessor’s Office from 1999 to 2003.

MacLearn is currently a health inspector from Santa Barbara County and serves on the Goleta Planning Commission.

He said he’s been concerned about election integrity since he first worked as a polling place inspector at age 18. He subsequently became a polling place supervisor, managing several polling places.

He also volunteered at the County Elections Office, receiving ballots from all the polling precincts, during the governor recall election in 2021.