Four days before the deadline to register people to vote, the Santa Barbara Democratic Party reported registering 7,609 new voters in the Isla Vista area — roughly 5,000 shy of their previously stated goal. In the last week, however, Darcel Elliott, longtime aide to Assemblymember Das Williams, confirmed that about 700 people are still registered since the primaries because they have not moved apartments, meaning the total eligible voters, as of Thursday, is 8,270.
The party registration breakdown at this point is unclear, but if present trends continue, about half are registered Democrats; 7 percent are Republicans; 38 percent are declined to state.
In Santa Barbara County elections, it is difficult to overstate the importance of Isla Vista. The number of people living on the UCSB campus and in the Isla Vista box is around 23,000. The county elector files show 18,881 total voters, but that also includes people who might have moved out of the area but are still on the voter rolls.