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# Letter: Santa Monica voter describes faulty punch pencil at City Hall polling booth
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/voting-woes-editor/
- Published: 2008-08-23T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:49:34.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Henry Duval Santa Monica*

Has voting in elections become, as I have believed in the past, just a joke?

A few years ago I voted at Santa Monica City Hall. I got the voting card and entered a voting booth. I placed a voting card in the proper slot and picked up the voting punch pencil and noticed that the punch pencil point seemed a bit shorter than it should be.

When I attempted to punch voting holes in the card, I realized the pen point did not penetrate the card fully. I showed this defect to a person who had given me a voting card and showed the person the problem. After getting a blank stare from that person, I was given a new card and a voting pen that would penetrate my card. But no one appeared to check other voting pens for possible problems. I even alerted the people who had voting booths for the opposite party than mine, as I only thought it was fair to do so. Well, I only got a blank stare from them also. I left the building in disgust.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 23, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/082308.pdf?ref=smdp.com)