“We have lost so much, and it is not right that we have lost our polling place as well,” Ford said in a statement. “The residents in the West End deserve better than this. I appreciate the quick response from the Republican Commissioner Savinetti, who gave his approval to moving back to West School. I am extremely disappointed with Democratic Commissioner Biamonte … without his approval, we will [have to] vote at Lindell School.”

West School has been open since the first day of school. It was one of the hardest-hit buildings in the district, and the total cost of repairs was estimated at $7.2 million. Weiss said that he had given the Board of Elections his approval to use the building as a polling place despite some reservations about safety.

“I told them that we had to use a different entrance, especially after the shootings in Newtown,” Weiss said. “We raised some security issues for the kids in the building. I just told them I don’t want someone coming through the building. We just spent a lot of money to put a visitors management system in and secure our entrance to protect students in the building. We have a visitors management system in place to check IDs, but we’re not allowed to check IDs when voters come in. Since I gave permission, it’s really up to them to make the decision.”

Biamonte, however, said that it was too late to make the change. “I would have loved to have [West School] open before the primary in order for people to vote there,” he said.

The Republican-backed candidates running for the Long Beach City Council and City Court judge, Mike Franceschini, Janna Jachniewicz, Damian Walsh and Ted Hommel, called on their Democratic opponents to urge Biamonte to make West School available to voters. “There is absolutely no reason whatsoever why West End residents should not have their traditional polling places open for business this coming Election Day,” the group said in a statement.

Long Beach Democratic Committee Chairman Mike Zapson said that he also reached out to Biamonte, but was told that it was too late to use the building.